LUCKNOW: In a relief to former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, the Allahabad High Court granted him interim anticipatory bail. Chinmayanand is accused of raping a law student from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh in 2011. While the single judge bench of Justice Samit Gopal granted the interim anticipatory bail to the former union minister of state for home on Tuesday, the order was uploaded on Wednesday.
Justice Gopal noted that the matter required consideration while observing that, “Till the next date of listing of the case, in the event of arrest of the applicant, Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati, involved in the aforesaid case shall be released on interim anticipatory bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 1lakh 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 within four weeks. He posted the matter for next hearing on February 6, 2023. Counsel for the applicant argued that through an order dated July 16, 2012 passed by a division bench of the HC, Chinmayanand was granted protection from arrest during the pendency of the investigation.