oppn parties Chinmayanand Case: A New Turn

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Chinmayanand Case: A New Turn

By Slogger

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.

The Chinmayanand case in Uttar Pradesh has taken a new, and perhaps ugly, turn. The SIT formed under the instructions of the Supreme Court has arrested the law student who had accused Chinmayanand of raping her. She has been charged with trying to extort Rs 5cr from the accused. This has put the impartiality of the UP police in serious doubt. The father and the brother of the girl have already been alleging that they are being pressurized to drop the case against the former Union minister. Now, with the SIT arresting the victim, the pressure is more pronounced.

Initially, when the girl made the allegations on August 24, the police did not act. Then, based on a request by some lawyers, the Supreme Court took sou motu cognizance of the incident and set the wheels of justice in motion. The SIT was formed and investigations began. The UP police suffered a negative blow to its image by not acting on a complaint that was under its provenance.

Then, despite the girl insisting that Chinmayanand raped her over a period of one year, the police booked him for lesser charges of "sexual intercourse not amounting to rape" and "misusing authority for sexual intercourse". That was an illegal act on part of the UP police as it is not for them to decide the charge but to apply the charge the victim says. The courts will decide what actually happened.

The police have told the Supreme Court that there is no evidence of money actually being paid to the girl. They have based their charges against the girl on a Whats App message allegedly received by the accused demanding Rs 5cr for hushing up the matter, which the police converted into an FIR. The police have also arrested three friends of the girl who the police said were planning the extortion.

With the twists and turns the case has undergone, if the UP police are not able to prove the charge against the girl and her friends, it will be proved that they are acting to protect Chinmayanand. In any case, even if the girl is found guilty of blackmail and extortion, the serious charges of rape against Chinmayanand will still stand. It is now upon the Supreme Court to ensure that the UP police act fairly and without prejudice to complete the investigations and bring the guilty to book.