The Allahabad high court on Friday rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s plea to withdraw the rape case against former Union minister Chinmayanand Saraswati saying that the application of law should be “uniform to all”.
A student pursuing LLM in a college run by Chinmayanand’s ashram had filed a rape complaint against him in 2019. The former minister has been booked under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Disposing of the UP government’s application on Friday, a single judge bench of justice Rahul Chaturvedi said, “In our criminal dispensation system, we cannot afford to pick and choose depending upon the caste, creed, religion, political affiliation, financial capacity etc. The application of law should be one and uniform to all top to bottom.”
The order comes after the state government moved an application to withdraw the criminal case against the veteran BJP leader under section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
However, in view of the former minister’s advanced age, the court said that if he surrenders before the concerned magistrate on or before October 30, 2022 and applies for bail, his application shall be adjudicated and decided strictly in accordance with law. “Till October 30, 2022, no coercive action shall be taken against the applicant in the aforementioned case,” the court further said.
{{/usCountry}}However, in view of the former minister’s advanced age, the court said that if he surrenders before the concerned magistrate on or before October 30, 2022 and applies for bail, his application shall be adjudicated and decided strictly in accordance with law. “Till October 30, 2022, no coercive action shall be taken against the applicant in the aforementioned case,” the court further said.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, the chief judicial magistrate of Shahjahanpur had scrapped the application to withdraw the criminal case against Chinmayanand.