SC to hear pollution cases related to Delhi, other cities today
The Supreme Court will expand its focus on air pollution to other cities in India during a hearing scheduled for Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the allegations made by a law student against BJP leader and former minister Swami Chinmayanand.
A police officer of Inspector General rank will head the SIT.
Advertisement
The top court has directed the Allahabad High Court to monitor the investigation on the complaint filed by the student.
Advertisement
Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh has been directed to provide police protection to the girl and her family until further orders.
The Allahabad High Court will constitute a bench to monitor the investigation.
The Supreme Court further directed the UP government to transfer the girl to a different college so that she can pursue her course.
The court also clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the correctness of grievances and apprehensions.
The Supreme Court took up the matter after a group of lawyers wrote to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday.
The girl student, who went missing after levelling sexual harassment charges against Chinmayanand, was later traced to Rajasthan on Friday and produced within hours before the Supreme Court.
The student of the Swami Shukdevanand Law College student in Shahjahanpur had accused the BJP leader of “destroying the lives of several girls” and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for help. She went missing three days after the allegations were made.
The UP police had last week lodged an FIR against Chinmayanand under IPC Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) based on a complaint by the father of the girl who accused the former minister of state for Home of having sexually harassed his daughter and kidnapping her.
Chinmayanand is a three-time Lok Sabha MP and was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2011, he was accused of rape by an inmate of his ashram. When she got pregnant, Chinmayanand allegedly forced her to have an abortion.
Advertisement
