Court to hear perjury case against woman who accused Chinmayanand of sexual assault

The sexual assault case against former Union Minister Chinmayanand witnessed a courtroom twist on Tuesday as the complainant disowned her statements to the police. As the prosecution sought action against her, the MP-MLA court in Lucknow will hear the case today.

Lucknow:The MP-MLA court in Lucknow on Thursday, will hear the case of alleged perjury against the woman law student who had accused former Union Minister Chinmayanand of sexual assault.

The women had retracted her statement before a special court in Lucknow on October 13, following which the prosecution immediately filed an application seeking action against her, under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, CrPC.

In an earlier development, the Supreme Court had set aside an order of the Allahabad High Court which allowed Swami Chinmayanand, who was accused of raping a law student in Shahjahanpur, to access a certified copy of the victim's statement.

A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice U U Lalit, had held that Chinmayanand cannot be permitted to access the complainant's statement to the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC during the investigation.

Read:Shahjahanpur law student withdraws rape charges against Chinmayanand

The apex court's order came on a plea of the law student in which she had challenged the Allahabad High Court order dated November 7, 2019, which held that Chinmayanad was entitled to get a certified copy of the statement of the victim recorded under Section 164 CrPC.

The Allahabad High Court had on December 6 granted bail to the law student, who along with three others, was charged for trying to extort an amount of Rs 5 crore from former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand. The law student had levelled rape allegations on Chinmayanand following which the latter filed a case of extortion against the girl and her three friends, namely Sanjay, Sachin, and Vikram.

On November 6, 2020, the Special Investigation Team had filed a charge sheet in both the rape and extortion case.

(ANI)