SC to hear on Monday plea seeking transfer of rape case against Chinmayanand to Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday a petition seeking transfer of the rape case filed against former BJP MP Swami Chinmayananda from Uttar Pradesh to a Delhi court.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the law student who levelled allegation of rape against Chinmayananda, mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde for transfer of the case to Delhi for a fair trial.

"We will see on Monday," the bench said while asking the victim to apply for police protection after Gonsalves claimed that family members of the victim were being attacked.

In February, Allahabad High Court had transferred from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow the trial in the sexual abuse case against Chinmyanand.

The victim, had last week, also approached the apex court challenging Allahabad High Court order of granting bail to Chinmyanand.

The Allahabad High Court had on February 3 granted bail to Chinmayanand, a former Union minister of state, in the alleged rape case filed by a woman who studied law in a college run by Chinmayanand in UP's Shahjahanpur.

In December 2019, the 23-year-old law student, who has accused Chinmayanand of rape, was released from a district jail in connection with an extortion case after she was granted bail by Allahabad High Court.

The woman was arrested on September 25 in connection with an extortion case filed on the basis of Chinmayanand's complaint alleging that she, along with three of her friends, had demanded Rs 5 crore from him.

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.