Chinmayanand granted bail in sexual abuse case

The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, accused of sexually abusing a law student.

Justice Rahul Chaturvedi issued the bail order on the plea filed by the BJP leader.

On November 16, the court had reserved its order after hearing the counsels from both sides.

Chinmayanand, whose trust runs the Shahjahanpur law college where the woman studied, was arrested on September 20 under section 376-C of the IPC, a charge short of rape.

It is applied when someone in authority takes advantage of his official position to induce or seduce a woman to have sex with him.

In a parallel case, the woman was charged with trying to extort money from Chinmayanand, whom she had accused of rape.

The high court granted her bail on December 4.

The Supreme Court had stepped in after the 23-year-old law student went missing for a few days in August last year after posting a video clip on social media, alleging sexual abuse.

A special investigation team of Uttar Pradesh Police, formed on the directions of the apex court, arrested Chinmayanand about a month later.

The SIT also arrested the student after a complaint that she and her friends had tried to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, threatening to make public videos showing her giving massages to the former minister.