Allahabad High Court grants anticipatory bail to Swami Chinmayanand in 2011 rape case

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, who was accused of raping a woman from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh in 2011. [Swami Chinmiyanand Saraswati Pupil v. State of UP & Anr].Justice Samit Gopal noted that the matter required consideration and observed,"Till the next date of listing, in the event of arrest of the applicant - Swami Chinmiyanand Saraswati, involved in the aforesaid case shall be released on interim anticipatory bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One lakh) with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court."The Court also ordered the victim and the State government to file a reply in this matter within four weeks..Counsel for the petitioner argued that through an order dated July 16, 2012 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court, Chinmayanand was granted protection from arrest during the pendency of the investigation.The applicant is an old and infirm person aged about 75 years having several sickness, the counsel added.It was argued that since Chinmayanand was granted a protective order during the period of investigation, he may be granted anticipatory bail till the conclusion of the trial in the case..Counsel for the State, while opposing the prayer for anticipatory bail, could not dispute the protection granted to the applicant during the pendency of the investigation. He also conceded that the State government had decided to withdraw the prosecution of Chinmayanand..After hearing the parties, the Court granted Chinmayanand anticipatory bail, subject to a number of conditions. It also stated,"In case, the applicant does not co-operate in the proceedings of the trial, this order shall stand automatically recalled / vacated and the applicant shall be taken into custody, forthwith."The matter will heard next on February 6, 2023. Senior Advocate Anoop Trivedi, assisted by Advocates Ankit Shukla and Abhinav Gaur, appeared for Chinmayanand..In the present case, Chinmayanand was booked after a woman who had spent 11 years at his ashram accused him of committing rape against her. Thereafter, the police had already filed a chargesheet in the case under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation).The woman had alleged that, Swami established a physical relationship with her perforce, administering some intoxicants in her food and thereafter brutally ravishing her. Further, Swami also took obscene audio-visual videos and porn photographs, and during this process, she was impregnated twice, she got it aborted for the first time at Bareilly and for the second time at Lucknow, stated the complaint.In February 2020, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Chinmayanand, and the student, finding that it was unclear as to who has used whom.In March that year, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition challenging the bail granted to Chinmayanand by the High Court.The Court also issued notice to Chinmayanand in a separate plea seeking transfer of the trial in the rape case against him from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi..The Supreme Court recently extended its order asking the authorities to not take coercive action against Chinmayanand till November 30, 2022, if he surrendered before the concerned magistrate in time..[Read Order]