BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand raped me for over a year, alleges law student

Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh): The law postgraduate student, who had levelled charges of sexual harassment against former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, on Monday alleged that she was raped and exploited for over a year by the BJP leader.

Addressing the press here, the woman, who was studying at a law college where Chinmayanand was the director, claimed that he exploited many more girls like her, but only she had courage to come ahead and file a complaint.

“Swami Chinmayanand raped me and even exploited me physically for one year,” she alleged before the media, her face covered with a black scarf.

“I have every evidence of the crime… go and open my hostel room,” she added.

She also alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Police had refused to file her FIR and hence, she decided to file an complaint in Delhi.

“The Delhi Police has registered this complaint at the Lodhi Road police station and has forwarded it to Shahjahanpur police,” she said.

The woman also accused the local District Magistrate of trying to threaten her parents for complaining against Chinmayanand, a three-time MP.

“Here I was running for my life, and the DM of Shahjahanpur threatened my father that you must see against whom you are filing a complaint,” the girl said.

The Supreme Court heard the woman’s account in a closed hearing and ordered the UP government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into her allegations. It had also directed that she and her brother – who was doing his LL.B at the same college here – should be transferred to another institution.

“On Sunday, the SIT quizzed me for about 11 hours. I have told them about the rapes. Even after I told them everything, they haven’t arrested Chinmayanand yet,” she said.

The woman was tracked down in Rajasthan on August 30, a week after she vanished following her Facebook post alleging that a “big leader of the Sant Samaj” had “destroyed the lives of many other girls and also has threatened to kill me”. In the post, she had requested Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help her.

Published on: Sep 9, 2019 at 20:45 IST

IANS