Swami Chinmayanand case: Court rejects bail pleas of both Chinmayanand and LLM student

In the latest development in the case concerning sexual harassment allegations against former BJP leader and MP, Swami Chinmayanand, a local court in Shahjahanpur has rejected the bail pleas filed by both Chinmayanand and the law student who had levelled the allegations, reports the Hindu. The law student had been arrested last week on on charges of extortion..Following her arrest last week, the student had been sent to 14 days judicial custody. Chinmayanand had also been arrested by the SIT probing the charges of rape and sexual harassment levelled against him, following which he was sent to 14 days of judicial custody. Chinmayanand will reportedly be challenging the denial of his bail plea before the Allahabad High Court..The LL.M. student from the Swami Shukdevanand Law College (SS Law College) in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh had posted videos online levelling allegations of sexual harassment against Swami Chinmayanand. The student went missing three days after the allegations were made..The Supreme Court had earlier taken suo motu cognizance of the incident after a group of lawyers had written a letter to the Court urging the same. Thereafter, the Court was informed that the student was found by the Rajasthan Police. After her production before the Court, and following a personal interaction with her, a Bench headed by Justice R Banumathi eventually allowed the student to apply for admission in another University in order to complete her LL.M. course..Further the Court had also directed the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to constitute an SIT to look into certain apprehensions raised by the student and her family. The Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court was requested to constitute a Bench to monitor this probe..The LL.M. student had reportedly submitted 43 videos to the investigating agencies to support her claims of having been blackmailed and raped by Chinmayanand. It was also reported last week that Chinmayanand had apologised for his behaviour, although it is unclear in what context he may have said the same..Image taken from here.