Chinmayanand sexual harassment case: Uttar Pradesh BJP leader appears before media, says he has full faith in judiciary

Shahjahanpur: Former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand on Wednesday expressed full faith in the judiciary, a day after the UP government constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe charges levelled by a Shahjahanpur woman against him. Appearing before the media for the first time after an FIR was lodged against him by a female law student, he said, “The matter is in the Supreme Court. An SIT has been constituted”. [caption id=“attachment_7284551” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand. News18[/caption] “I have full faith in the judiciary and I will say whatever I have to say before the SIT”, he said. At the press conference, Chinmayanand also asked electronic media reporters to switch off their cameras. “I will not talk to the electronic media. What will you do?” he said. The UP police had visited Haridwar to trace the BJP leader after he was booked by the Shahjahanpur police when the student went missing following her allegation in a video clip that he had been harassing her. Acting on the Supreme Court’s order, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday constituted the SIT. The SIT to be headed by an IG-rank police officer will look into the two cross FIRs filed in the high-profile case. Instructions have been issued to divisional commissioner (Bareilly) and vice-chancellor of Mahatma Jyotibha Phule Ruhelkhand University, Bareilly, to admit the law student and her brother at Mahatma Jyotibha Phule Ruhelkhand University, Bareilly or any affiliated college. Directions have also been issued to the Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur to provide adequate security to the law student, her parents and other members of her family, it said. The apex court judges said the woman had raised certain grievances against the institution where she studied and her mother and father had some apprehensions about the safety of their children. The top court said the Delhi police will accompany her parents to their residence in Shahjahanpur and the woman will continue her stay in the national capital till 12 September. The Shahjahanpur police had on 27 August lodged an FIR against Chinmayanand. Her father had filed a complaint with police accusing Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, a charge refuted by the BJP leader’s lawyer who claimed it was a “conspiracy” to blackmail him.