SC asks UP govt to produce student allegedly harassed by Swami Chinmayanand before it on Aug 30

The Supreme Court Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to produce before it during the day the woman law student who had gone missing after levelling harassment allegations against former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand and has now been found in Rajasthan.

The apex court was informed by the counsel appearing for the state government that she was found in Rajasthan on Friday and is being taken to Shahjahanpur to meet her parents.

After a bench of justices, R Banumathi and A S Bopanna asked the state counsel to apprise it as to by when the woman can be produced before the court, the lawyer said that she, along with the police team, is en route to Shahjahanpur and has reached Fatehpur Sikri.

The state counsel said that if the court asks the authority to produce the woman before it on Friday itself, she can be brought within two and a half hours.

After hearing the submissions, the court directed the state government to produce the woman before it during the day.

The bench said it would interact with the woman in-camera and the bench will assemble after that to pass appropriate orders.

The Shahjahanpur police had on Tuesday lodged an FIR against Chinmayanand after the student went missing following her allegation in a video clip that he had been harassing her.

The woman also speaks about the threat to her and her family's life in the video clip.

The parents of the girl have filed a complaint against the BJP leader for threatening the family and allegedly kidnapping their daughter, "We have some vital clues through electronic surveillance and are confident of tracing her very soon," the Director-General of Police (DGP) OP Singh told Hindustan Times. 

The National Commission for Women has also issued a notice to the police in Uttar Pradesh to take immediate steps and investigate the matter.