Granted bail on Feb 3 in sexual exploitation case. (File Photo)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order granting bail to former Union minister Chinmayanand in a sexual exploitation case lodged by a law student.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Naveen Sinha dismissed the appeal saying it saw no reason to interfere with the HC order. However, it issued notices to the UP government, Chinmayanand and others on a plea seeking transfer of the case from UP to Delhi.
The Allahabad High Court had granted bail to Chinmayanand on February 3. The court had called it “a complete matter of quid pro quo” and said the young woman’s conduct was “astonishing” and that she “tried to blackmail him for ransom”.
The complainant had alleged that she was sexually exploited by Chinmayanand when she was a student at a college run by him.
Chinmayanand was arrested on September 21 last year after the police booked him under IPC Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation). He was later booked under Section 376-C of the IPC, which is usually applied in cases where a person abuses his position to “induce or seduce” a woman under his charge to have “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”.
The chargesheet against Chinmayanand was filed under IPC sections 376-C, 354-D, 342 and 506.
The SIT which probed the matter had booked the girl over allegations that she tried to extort money from Chinmayanand. She is currently on bail.