Law student who accused Chinmayand of rape released on bail

The 23-year-old law student, who had accused former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of rape was released from a district jail on bail in connection with an extortion case. The woman and three of her friends had been arrested on September 25 for allegedly demanding Rs 5 crore from the BJP leader. The Allahabad High Court had on December 4 granted bail to the accused in the matter. The father of the woman exuded faith in the judicial system said that they believe in the judicial system and will see this case through.

Chinmayanand had alleged that they threatened to make public some purported videos of him getting a massage from the law student. On the other hand, the woman had alleged that she was repeatedly raped and blackmailed by Chinmayanand for over a year. The four accused in the extortion case include the woman law student. All of them are in jail. The 72-year-old Chinmayanand also faces the charges of stalking under section 354D, wrongful confinement under section 342 and criminal intimidation under section 506 of the IPC.

READ: SIT recovers pen drive containing obscene videos of Chinmayanand

READ: Chinmayanand case: Another accused in extortion case gets bail

Charges against Chinmayanand

The former Union minister was arrested on Sept 20 and is in jail after the 23-year-old law student filed a case against him under section 376C of the IPC, an offence pertaining to the abuse of position to "induce or seduce" a woman to have "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape." This is a lesser charge than section 376, under which a rape convict faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The punishment under section 376C is between five and 10 years in jail.

READ: Chinmayanand produced in Lucknow court; next hearing on Dec 16

Chinmayanand produced in court

Chinmayanand was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Omvir amid tight security last week. His counsel Om Singh said the case diary made available to him by the SIT was incomplete and the court has directed for providing a complete case diary. The CJM court fixed December 16 as the next date for the hearing, prosecution counsel Lal Saheb said.

READ: Woman who accused Chinmayanand of rape stopped from appearing in LLM exam

(With Agency Inputs)