Chinmayanand case: SC stays HC order

The Supreme Court has granted an interim stay on the Allahabad High Court's order, allowing former union minister Chinmayanand to access certified copy of the statement recorded by the Shahjahanpur law student, who had leveled allegations of sexual harassment and rape against him.

The law student's statement was recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

According to reports, a bench of Justice U.U. Lalit and Justice Vineet Saran issued notices on Saturday and sought response from Uttar Pradesh government and Chinmayanand on the law student's plea.

The apex court has posted the matter for next hearing on December 9.

The Shahjahanpur law student had filed an appeal in the apex court against the November 7 order of the Allahabad High Court, which held that Chinmayanand was entitled to get a certified copy of the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 CrPC.

In her petition, the law student has said that the High Court's direction granting a copy of the victim's statement before the filing of the chargesheet was contrary to law and may have far-reaching effects.

The petition stated that a pre-condition for obtaining the copy of the statement of the victim under section 164 CrPC, is that the chargesheet has been filed and cognizance of the same has been taken by the magistrate.

In a related development, the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Shahjahanpur has issued summons to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader D. P. S. Rathore and another party leader Ajit Singh for their involvement in the extortion case registered by Chinmayanand lawyer Om Singh.

Rathore is the younger brother of J.P.S. Rathore, BJP's state vice president.

In the chargesheet, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) told the court that the 23-year-old law student and her friends had allegedly attempted to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand while the two BJP leaders had attempted to extort Rs 1.25 crore from the former union minister with the help of a pen drive that they had snatched from the woman after she was found by Shahjahanpur police in Dausa, Rajasthan.

Both the leaders have been charged under sections 385 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC in the chargesheet filed by the SIT on November 6.

The CJM court has now directed the accused leaders to appear before the court on November 19. According to legal experts, there is a possibility that the court may send them in judicial custody as all the other accused in the extortion case are lodged in jail.

On September 21, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had arrested Chinmayanand and sent him to jail. The law student was also booked on alleged charges of extortion against Chinmayanand and then arrested.