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Updated: Jul 04, 2020 22:28 IST

A local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur on Wednesday rejected the bail application of a 23-year-old law student who accused former Union minister Chimnayanand of sexual assault, hours after she was arrested on extortion charges.

On Tuesday, the woman had moved a local court for protection against arrest but did not get any immediate relief with the court posting the hearing for Wednesday. But she was arrested before her hearing came up.

“The law student, who had accused Swami Chinmayanand for sexually harassing her, has been arrested by the SIT (Special Investigation Team) for allegedly trying to extort money from him,” UP’s Director General of Police, OP Singh said according to ANI.

Earlier in the day, the court in Shahjahanpur sent the woman to 14 days of judicial remand after her arrest.

“The local court here sent the girl student, who had accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of rape, to 14 days of judicial remand,” ANI quoted the former union minister and BJP leader’s lawyer, Manendra Singh on Wednesday

The woman’s arrest drew a sharp retort from the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which lashed out at the Uttar Pradesh police. The party’s national spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria said her arrest says a lot about the law and order situation in the state.

“It is ironical that people who have been allegedly raped or those who are levelling charges of being raped, are finding themselves under police custody,” Bhadoria told ANI in New Delhi.

Bhadoria cited the case of the Unnao rape survivor who was allegedly assaulted by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar and barely survived a road crash when truck rammed a car she was travelling in, killing two of her aunts in July.

“We have seen in the past in Unnao case, the father of the victim died in the police custody. In this case similarly, the victim’s relatives were killed in an accident on their way to the High Court,” he added.

“In this case, they have arrested the girl who has charged Chinmayanand of sexual harassment and rape. This speaks a lot about the law and order in Uttar Pradesh. How will be girls who are sexually exploited and raped come forward if this kind of atmosphere is created?” Bhadoria asked.