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An LL.M. student from Shahjahanpur, UP alleged that Chinmayanand raped her. When the State government filed a case withdrawal plea, an affidavit on behalf of the victim was also filed supporting the withdrawal, however, she opposed it later on.
The Allahabad High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati in the 2011 rape case where he is accused of sexually exploiting a law student of a college of which he was the director.
The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh confirmed the interim order dated December 19, 2022, and admitted Chinmayanand on anticipatory bail.
Court further directed Chinmayanand to appear before the trial court concerned within one week from the date of the order (February 6, 2023) and submit a personal bond and two sureties each of the like amounts to the satisfaction of the court concerned, if not already done.
It is to be noted that the State itself has taken a decision to withdraw from prosecution and has granted permission to the Public Prosecutor to move an application under Section 321 CrPC and, therefore, the State did not oppose the anticipatory bail to Chinmayanand.
The bench of Justice Samit Gopal had granted interim anticipatory bail to Chinmayanand in December while noting that the State although opposed to the prayer for anticipatory bail but could not dispute the factual position with regards to the protection granted to him during the pendency of investigation and State Government's decision to withdraw the prosecution against him.
Court had also taken into consideration the argument put forth by Chinmayanand's counsel regarding his old age and associations. Chinmayanand's counsel had apprised the court that he is now 75 years of age and is associated with various educational, religious and medical institutions.
In the present case, Chinmayanand was granted bail six months after his arrest in 2019 by the Allahabad high court on February 3, 2020.
In January 2012, chargesheet under Sections 376, and 506 IPC was submitted against Chinmayanand and offences under Sections 342, 323, 307, 313 IPC against him were dropped.
Later on, the State Government filed an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Shahjahanpur under Section 321 CrPC for withdrawal of the case, which the judge rejected in May 2018.
The decision was also affirmed by the high court on September 30, 2022. The court had observed that the entire process of withdrawing the prosecution was well short of the standards set up by the Apex Court in Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India.
Against that decision, Chinmayanand moved the Top Court, which in its order, though dismissed his appeal, extended his time to surrender till November 30.
The rape case had triggered nationwide outrage and the Top Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the issue and had directed for constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.
The SIT has filed the chargesheet and the case is pending before the CJM court, Shahjahanpur.
Case Title: Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati v. State Of U.P. And Anr
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