NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday set aside an Allahabad High Court order allowing former Union Minister and BJP leader Chinmayanand to get a copy of statement of a woman law student recorded before a magistrate in connection with a rape case against him.
A bench of Justices U U Lalit, Vineet Saran and S Ravindra Bhat allowed the appeal of the Shahjahanpur-based woman law student against the high court order which had said that a certified copy of her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) can be given to the accused leader.
Statement recorded under section 164 of the CrPC before a judicial magistrate is admissible as an evidence during the trial and has more force than the version given to the police during the investigation.
The high court on November 7, 2019, had asked the trial court to provide the former Union minister a copy of the statement of the woman, who had accused him of raping her.
The law student came in appeal before the Supreme Court which on November 15, last year had stayed the high court order and had sought response from the state government and Chinmayanand.
The top court had also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to set up an SIT headed by an IG-rank officer to look into the charges levelled by the woman, who had gone missing after accusing Chinmayanand of harassment, and was found in Rajasthan.
On September 21, 2019, Chinmayanand was arrested by the SIT and sent to jail.
The 23-year-old student was also booked on alleged charges of extortion.