CHINMAYANAND CASEWoman seeks exemption from attendance rule of LLM course

LUCKNOW The Shahjahanpur law student, who has accused former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand of rape, on Tuesday sought exemption from the 75% mandatory attendance rule for the 3rd semester of LLM course of the University in Bareilly.

The woman appeared before the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Shahjahanpur on Tuesday in connection with the case of attempt to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand.

The woman, who is in jail since she was arrested on September 25, has through her

counsel Kulvinder Singh filed an application before the court seeking direction to the university to exempt her from mandatory attendance condition.

“As per the university’s general rules for examination regulations and course of study, a student with 75% attendance is eligible to appear in the 2-year LLM degree examination. Since the applicant is in judicial custody, she could not fulfill this condition,” the application reads.

The Supreme Court, in its September 4 order, had directed the administration to ensure that the woman be migrated to some other college as her previous college was owned by the trust managed by accused Chinmayanand.

The woman filed an application before the district court, which directed the jail authorities to take her to the university in Bareilly so that she could take admission there in the 3rd semester of LLM. She got admission there on October 18.

Meanwhile, on the first day of hearing of the extortion case against the woman and three others -- Sanjay, Sachin and Vikram (all in judicial custody), the accused asked for the certified copy of the charge-sheet. The court listed the matter for next hearing on December 3. The trial in the case against Chinmayanand begun on Monday and next date of the case is November 30. He was arrested on September 20.

The woman’s counsel also mentioned the Supreme Court’s November 15 order, staying the Allahabad high court’s November 7 order, in which the lower court was directed to give certified copy of Shahjahanpur woman’s statement recorded under section 164 of Cr PC to Chinmayanand.

Meanwhile, Shahjahanpur district cooperative bank chairman and BJP leader DPS Rathore and his aid Ajeet Kumar did not appear before the court on Tuesday. The court had issued summons to both after the SIT named them in the chargesheet, accusing them of trying to extort Rs 1.25 crore from Chinmayanand.