RAPE CASE: SC ASKS CHINMAYANAND TO SURRENDER

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed former Union minister Chinmayanand Saraswati to surrender by the end of this month and face trial in a 2019 rape case.

It upheld two judicial orders that blocked the Uttar Pradesh government’s move to close the case against the BJP leader. “Magistrate was right in rejecting the application for withdrawal of the case,” said a bench of justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath. “The high court was doubly right in upholding it.”

The leader, who served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, has been accused for rape by a law student studying in a college run by the foundation established by Chinmayanand.