Allahabad High Court Judge Recuses From Hearing Swami Chinmayanand's Plea To Quash 2011 Shahjahanpur Rape Case

Justice Rajiv Gupta of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday recused himself from hearing a Criminal Case quashing petition filed by former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand in connection with a rape case registered against him in the year 2011.

"The case stands released. List before another Bench after seeking nomination from Hon'ble The Chief Justice/ Senior Judge, if possible on 05.05.2022," the Bench remarked yesterday when the case came before it for hearing.

The matter in brief

Essentially Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati has moved to the Allahabad High Court with his 482 Cr.P.C. application to quash the charge sheet as well as the entire proceedings of a case instituted against him in the year 2011 under Sections 376, 506 I.P.C, pending in the court of C.J.M., Shahjahanpur.

He has also challenged an order of the Magistrate (passed on May 24, 2018) rejecting the application filed by the State to withdraw the prosecution against Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati under Section 321 CrPC [Withdrawal from prosecution].

Swami has argued that in absence of any ground to reject the application under Section 321 Cr.P.C., the learned Magistrate could not have rejected such application under influence of a letter written by a stranger to the dispute and on consideration of evidence and other material which are not required to be examined, at this stage

It may be noted that in the year 2011, a woman had alleged that she was kept at an ashram and raped by the former Union Minister. She had alleged that when she got pregnant, the Swami Chinmayanand forcefully aborted her child.

A charge sheet was filed in this case after a police investigation, but the Allahabad high court had stayed Chinmayanand's arrest. Further, in the year 2018, the state government decided to withdraw the case against him.

Pursuant to this, a petition under Section 321 of CrPC was filed before the court of Shahjahanpur's Chief Judicial Magistrate. When the Court had asked for the objection to be filed by the rape survivor, the Lawyer of the survivor had filed an objection on behalf of the survivor. Pursuant to this, the Court had rejected the State's application. 

Case title - Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati v.  State Of U.P. And Anr [APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 23160 of 2018]

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