Rape-accused Chinmayanand isn't a BJP member anymore, claims spokesperson
Weeks after the scandal related to Chinmayanand broke, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has distanced itself from him. A spokesperson of the ruling party said the 72-year-old leader, who served as a Union Minister in late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Cabinet, is no longer a member of BJP. Spokesperson Harish Shrivastava said that "law will take its course." Here are more details.
When Shrivastava was asked when Chinmayanand stopped being a BJP member, he replied, "I think for a long time. It's not a question of documents and we cannot give an exact date but Chinmayanand is not a member of the BJP."
Chinmayanand, an influential leader who runs several ashrams in Uttar Pradesh, was elected to 13th Lok Sabha from Jaunpur in 1999. Vajpayee made him the Minister of State (MoS) for Internal Affairs. Though his political career was short-lived, he wielded power and the regular visits of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath testified this. Earlier this month, a law student accused him of rape.
The survivor, who leveled serious allegations on Chinmayanand, is a student of Shahjahanpur's SS Law College, where he holds a top position. She said he raped her for a year and forced her to give "massages". In a bid to collect evidence against him, she installed a camera on her specs and recorded the abuse. A Special Investigation Team has been given these clips.
Ironically, despite the victim giving enough evidence to SIT, which was set up by the Supreme Court to investigate the case, Chinmayanand wasn't booked for rape. Instead, he was charged for "exploiting his position for sexual harassment," an accusation that doesn't invite strict punishment like IPC Section 376. Earlier this week, he was shifted to a Lucknow hospital after his health worsened.
When the case first made it to the news in August, Chinmayanand had cried conspiracy. Equating himself with Kuldeep Singh Sengar, another ex-BJP leader who is accused of rape, he had said, "This is a conspiracy against me and the girl in question is a part of it. There are four other boys who had earlier tried to blackmail me and extort money."
Unlike Sengar's case, BJP didn't take months to "come clean" in Chinmayanand's matter. To recall, the MLA from Unnao was accused of rape by a teen in 2018, and the saffron party expelled him only after the survivor's deadly accident in July sparked public outrage.
Sadly enough though, this morning the survivor was arrested by SIT and sent to jail for allegedly trying to extort money from Chinmayanand after his team registered a complaint. Her family said she was picked up from the house and police personnel didn't even allow her to wear slippers. On the allegations against her, she had said they were filed to weaken her case.
