The Allahabad High Court has granted the Uttar Pradesh government two more days’ time to file a fresh affidavit in cases related to the former union minister and BJP MP, Swami Chinmayanand who has been accused by a young girl of raping her. The original affidavit drafted by the government had typographical errors, agencies reported. The court had earlier asked for the affidavit regarding the status of investigations.

The Uttar Pradesh police have registered a case under Section 376-C of the Indian Penal Code, a charge short of rape, on the basis of a complaint by the student who studied at an institution run by the BJP leader.

The bench of Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice V K Srivastava passed the order on the request of the government counsel, who asked for more time to file a fresh affidavit as the one already drafted had some typographical errors.

The Supreme Court on September 2, 2019 had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations against Chinmayanand. The top court had also directed that the Allahabad High Court would constitute a bench to monitor the investigation. The SIT has been submitting progress report before the Allahabad High Court on a regular basis.

Swami Chinmayanand was arrested on September 20 by the SIT. The police also arrested the student following allegations that she and her friends were trying to extort money from Chinmayanand, after recording video clips of her giving him massages. The woman said she was sexually exploited and had recorded the videos as evidence.

—India Legal Bureau