SC To Consider Request For Suo Moto Action On The Case Of Missing Law Student

A group of women lawyers on Wednesday mentioned before the bench headed by Justice Ramana the case of LLM student who went missing after raising sexual harrassment allegations against BJP leader and former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand.

They urged the Supreme Court to take suo moto cognizance of the case. The Court however asked them to approach the appropriate High Court (Allahabad HC in this case).

But upon insistence by the lawyers, the Court asked them to submit the papers and said that it will look into the matter. The mentioning was made by a team of Advocates Shobha Gupta, Sumita Hazarika, Monica Gosain and Shomona Khanna. They have also written a letter to the CJI making this request.

The matter pertains to an LLM Student from Saharanpur, who had accused the former Union Minister and BJP leader, Swami Chinmayanand, of sexually harassing her and many other girls.

After she voiced the allegations in a Facebook Live video, she went missing.

The accused BJP leader is the director of Swami Shukdevanand Law College in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where the missing complainant is an LLM candidate. Citing threat to her and her family's life from the politician, the complainant had, on Friday last week, posted a live video on Facebook, alleging that Chinmayanand had "destroyed the lives of several girls".

She sought help from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard. "A big leader of the saint society, who has destroyed the lives of several girls, has been threatening me with life. I have all the evidences against him. I request Modi ji and Yogi ji to please help me", she disclosed.

"When any girl tries to take an action against him, he blatantly threatens them with murder, claiming he has links with all forces of law", she added.

However, three days after the video got viral, the girl went missing, CNN News18 reported. Her phone was switched off and her hostel room locked, since Saturday. Her father has alleged that this was not a case of missing persons but rather of kidnapping and he filed a written complaint against Chinmayanand.

However, no case has been registered against Swami Chinmayanand by the police so far and no action has been taken on the written complaint, the father reported. On being asked, S. Chinappa, SSP at Shahjahanpur, said he didn't know anything about the viral video.

The girl's mother was reported saying that she had asked her daughter why her phone remained switched off so frequently. In response the girl said 'if my phone goes off for a longer duration then understand that I am in trouble. My phone will go off only when it is not in my hands'.