Uttar Pradesh: After failing to appear despite a Supreme Court order, a special MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district has ordered the police to arrest former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati and produce him before the court on December 9.
According to special government counsel Neelima Saxena, the court issued an arrest warrant for Chinmayanand in a charge of sexual exploitation brought against him by his disciple at a police station in the city.
In a statement, his attorney stated that Chinmayanand had submitted an application for anticipatory bail in the high court, and that the case will be heard on December 6. Saxena further claimed that Judge Asma Sultana should have granted him more time to appear, but she did not.
Meanwhile, the judge stated that Chinmayanand was granted time until November 30 by the Supreme Court to surrender, but because he did not show up, this period cannot be prolonged.
What are the charges against Chinmayanand?
In 2011, on a complaint from his disciple, a case of sexual exploitation was registered against Mumukshu ashram founder Chinmayanand.
The Uttar Pradesh government in 2018 had sent a letter to the court through the district magistrate to withdraw the case, but the victim objected. The application for withdrawal was dismissed by the court and a bailable warrant was issued against him.
Chinmayanand had then appealed in the high court for withdrawal of the case and after it was rejected there, he appealed in the Supreme Court.
But the top court also rejected his appeal.
(With inputs from PTI)
ALSO READ: Lawyer shot dead inside court campus in UP's Shahjahanpur
