Student rape case: Chinmayanand released on bail
Shahjahanpur: Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand was released from Shahjahanpur prison on Wednesday, two days after being granted bail in the case of sexual abuse against a law student. Mr Chinmayanand, 72, walked out of the district jail after the completion of legal formalities, prison superintendent Rakesh Kumar said. The Allahabad high court had granted him bail on Monday.
Shahjahanpur (UP), Feb. 5: Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand was offered flowers by supporters as he walked out of prison on Wednesday, two days after being granted bail in the case in which he is accused of sexually abusing a law student.
Chinmayanand, 72, was released from the Shahjahanpur district jail after the completion of legal formalities, prison superintendent Rakesh Kumar said.
The Allahabad high court had granted him bail on Monday. But he was not released earlier as the bail papers had not reached the jail.
While granting him bail, Justice Rahul Chaturvedi also transferred Chinmayanand’s trial from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow, taking note of the victim’s apprehension that he could influence proceedings in his hometown.
“The trial court will take up the case on priority basis, preferably on a daytoday basis and the trial will be concluded within one year,” the high court said.
The bail order directed Chinmayanand to file an undertaking that he would not seek any adjournments and be present in court.
Outside the Shahjahanpur jail, Chinmayanand’s supporters waited for him with flowers. He was then driven to his ashram, where he offered prayers before leaving for his home.
Justice Chaturvedi had also directed Lucknow’s senior superintendent of police to depute a senior sub-inspector and armed constables for the security of the student and her family members during the trial period.
Chinmayanand, whose trust runs the Shahjahanpur law college where
the woman studied, was arrested on September 20 under Section 376-C of the Indian Penal Code, a charge short of rape.