CHINMAYANAND ARRESTED IN SEXUAL ALLEGATIONS CASE
Swami Chinmayanand, a well-known politician for sexual harassment cases, is a BJP leader & a former union minister from Uttar Pradesh. Chinmayanand is good friend of Yogi Adityanath Swami was alleged for sexual harassments before also by her students. In 2011, swami Chinmayanand was accused for abduction & rape.
As quoted by THE WEEK, “Three times Chinmayanand has gotten stay from the High Court. There is a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, but with the stay, it cannot be executed. Our files have gone missing on more than one occasion from the court”
The law student posted a video of her alleging the Swami Chinmayanad of sexual harassments & threatening to kill her on August 24. But the interesting fact is that the case gain attention when the law student went missing the very next day. The media gave coverage to the case. Then on the fact of the case, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the case.
On August 27, police charged Chinmayanand with abduction in order to murder with criminal intention. The woman had stated that the sadhus of the ashram had forced & brainwashed her to become sadhvi. They even forced her to get abortion, evil consequence as a result of rape, & that many sexual harassment victims were forced to marry ashram employees.
Hopefully the girl who got lost after posting a video where she accused only a senior BJP leader without naming Swami Chinmayanand was found in her friend house in Rajasthan. The Uttar Pradesh Police & SIT has stated that necessary legal actions will be taken.
The woman & her mates were also filed with the charges of extortion. Three men known to the woman have been arrested in the extortion case. The police say the woman is also involved, but they are looking for more proof to act further against her. The woman told NDTV: “There is no justice. I already told the (police) in details how I was raped and yet he has not been charged with rape. This has played out exactly as I feared. I do not know what the planning is behind Chinmayanand’s arrest. I have nothing to with the extortion case.”[1] Earlier SIT team has stated that arrest cannot be made on the circumstantial evidences. They would needed solid proofs.
The BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh by Yogi Adityanath has claimed that the crimes against women have come down. But as per the victim’s statements & the political figure of the Uttar Pradesh has forced the political observers & other people to think about the law & order & trails of justice. “Yogi Adityanath had lunch with Chinmayananda at his house in Shahjahanpur and there was a photo session too. It clearly shows their good relations. There is a difference between withdrawing a rape case and one related to the demonstration,” she quipped, referring to the UP government’s December 2017 decision to withdraw 20,000 cases of breach of peace and violation of prohibitory orders against politicians across party lines.[2]
In conclusion, the way Uttar Pradesh government has been leading to the cases has created disastrous consequences. The intervention of Supreme Court through suo moto cognizance clearly depicts the failure of state machinery to curb offences against women. Cases like Kuldeep Singh Sengar & Swami Chinmeyanand create a doubt about the administration & misuse of political power to the extent that the offenders have no fear of law.
By-
Harsh Vardhan Gupta
Student
Reporter INBA
[1] NDTV.com
[2] Tehelka.com