Law Student Who Accused Swami Chinmayanand Found In Jaipur, Says UP Govt ; SC Seeks Her Production Before It Today Itself

After the Uttar Pradesh Government informed the Supreme Court on Friday that the law student, who had allegedly gone missing after levelling sexual harassment allegations against senior BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, was found with her friend in Rajasthan, the Court sought her production before it today itself.

The state counsel told the bench of Justices Banumathi and Bopanna that she was being taken from Jaipur to Shajahanpur in UP, where her parents are residing.

Advocate Shobha Gupta, who along with other lawyers had written to the CJI  urging to take suo moto cognizance of the news reports of the girl going missing, submitted that the Court should interact with the woman to ascertain her safety.

"'We are concerned about the safety of the girl. This case could have been worse than Unnao incident", submitted Gupta.

Advocate A P Singh, lawyer for Swami Chinmayanand, said that the allegations were an attempt to malign the image of his client, who was described as a 'very spiritual man'.

On being asked to ascertain the current location of the woman, the UP government submitted that the police party had reached Fatehpur Sikri, and they could re-route to Delhi if the SC ordered.

Based on this, the bench dictated the order, seeking her production in chambers today itself. The judges will interact with the woman in camera and pronounce further orders in open court.

Swami Chinmayanand is the director of Swami Shukdevanand Law College in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where the woman 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 had 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. 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'.