The Supreme Court has put an interim stay on the Allahabad High Court’s order which allows former union minister Chinmayanand to access certified copy of the statement recorded by the Shahjahanpur law student, who had leveled allegations of sexual harassment and rape against him.
Under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the law studen’s statement was recorded.
A bench of Justice UU Lalit and Justice Vineet Saran issued notices on Saturday and sought response from Uttar Pradesh government and Chinmayanand on the law student’s plea, according to reports.
The apex court has given the next date for hearing on December 9.
The Shahjahanpur law student had filed an appeal in the apex court against the November 7 order of the Allahabad High Court, which held that Chinmayanand was entitled to get a certified copy of the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 CrPC.
In her petition, the law student has said that the High Court’s direction granting a copy of the victim’s statement before the filing of the chargesheet was contrary to law and may have far-reaching effects.
The petition stated that a pre-condition for obtaining the copy of the statement of the victim under section 164 CrPC, is that the chargesheet has been filed and cognizance of the same has been taken by the magistrate.
In a related development, the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Shahjahanpur has issued summons to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader DPS Rathore and another party leader Ajit Singh for their involvement in the extortion case registered by Chinmayanand lawyer Om Singh.
Rathore is the younger brother of JPS Rathore, BJP’s state vice president.
In the chargesheet, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) told the court that the 23-year-old law student and her friends had allegedly attempted to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand while the two BJP leaders had attempted to extort Rs 1.25 crore from the former union minister with the help of a pen drive that they had snatched from the woman after she was found by Shahjahanpur police in Dausa, Rajasthan.
Both the leaders have been charged under sections 385 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC in the chargesheet filed by the SIT on November 6.
DP Singh Rathore on Sunday was questioned for over 12 hours over his suspected role in the extortion bid case lodged by Chinmayanand.
He is the chairman of the district cooperative bank and was present in Dausa, Rajasthan, when Shahjahanpur crime branch team found the 23-year-old student near Mehandipur Balaji Temple on August 30 after she went missing on August 24.
The CJM court has now directed the accused leaders to appear before the court on November 19. According to legal experts, there is a possibility that the court may send them in judicial custody as all the other accused in the extortion case are lodged in jail.
As per the SIT officials, vulgar and sexually explicit videos have been found in the pen drive of the BJP leader.
Chinmayanand has been booked under various sections while the law student who had accused Chinmayanand of sexual harassment has been booked for extortion along with her male companions Sanjay Sachin and Vikram.
DP Singh Rathore said that at that time he was accompanied by another BJP leader, Ajit Singh, who is the brother in-law of Vikram, one of the accused in the extortion case.
SIT chief Naveen Arora said that D.P. Singh and Ajit Singh were present in Dausa in Rajasthan when the law student was staying and were involved in the extortion attempt.
“Rathore and Ajit later started demanding money from Chinmayanand in return for his videos. Their names are now being included in the extortion case,” he said.
On September 21, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had arrested Chinmayanand and sent him to jail. The law student was also booked on alleged charges of extortion against Chinmayanand and then arrested. As per the SIT officials, vulgar and sexually explicit videos have been found in the pen drive of the BJP leader.
Chinmayanand has been booked under various sections while the law student who had accused Chinmayanand of sexual harassment has been booked for extortion along with her male companions Sanjay Sachin and Vikram.
DP Singh Rathore said that at that time he was accompanied by another BJP leader, Ajit Singh, who is the brother in-law of Vikram, one of the accused in the extortion case.
Chinmayanand is a three-time Lok Sabha MP and was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2011, he was accused of rape by an inmate of his ashram. When she got pregnant, the BJP leader allegedly forced her to have an abortion.