Lucknow : Granting bail to former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, who was arrested last September on the charge of sexually assaulting a student of a law college he runs in Shahjahanpur, the Allahabad High Court, in its order Monday, called it “a complete matter of quid pro quo” and said the young woman’s conduct was “astonishing”, and that she “tried to blackmail him for ransom”.

Justice Rahul Chaturvedi, in his order, said: “A girl, whose virginity is at stake, not uttering a single word to her own parent or before the Court regarding the alleged incident, is an astonishing conduct which speak volumes about the ingeniousness of the prosecution story.”

Relying on the final report of the police under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Justice Chaturvedi noted that Chinmayanand who “once adorned the post of State Minister for internal affairs in the Government of India has got himself involved in a most discreet incident and that too for a considerable period of time”.

On the woman’s statement recorded under CrPC Section 164 — a statement made before a magistrate — the court said it “contains almost same flavour and texture with certain modifications hither and thither” as the statements made before police

The order said “it is also noteworthy there are material on record where the family members of Miss “A” were being benefited out of the solipsistic behavior of the accused applicant. It is also noticeable that there is also nothing on record that during the period of the alleged atrocities committed upon Miss “A” she made any complaint or even any whisper to her family members against the accused applicant” and “therefore, at this juncture, this Court draws its conclusion that it was a complete matter of quid pro quo but over a span of time the greed for extracting “more”, she along with her accomplices seems to have advanced for hatching a conspiracy against the applicant and tried to blackmail him for ransom, through the obscenic video clips recorded by herself”.

The bail order also questions why the victim did not disclose the incident to her parents. “She never shared anything with anyone including her parents. On the other hand, during those dark period, on her own, purchased a spy-camera fitted goggles, from which she shot nude pictures and recorded videos of the accused, which were used by her in demanding the ransom money from the accused applicant, after blackmailing.”

“What is mind boggling, disturbing and matter of concern is that a student of LL.M., i.e. Miss “A” comes into contact with the applicant, seeks and enjoys his ‘patronage’ and ‘benevolence’ as well as on her family members and in lieu of that she was said to be exploited physically by the applicant, keeps mum throughout the entire long period for almost 9-10 months,” it noted, asking if “it is difficult to decipher as to who has used whom?”.

The court also questioned the nature of relationship between the complainant and her father. “Beyond the aforesaid FIR, it is quite evident that only relying upon the evidence of the Facebook account and uploaded videos, father of the alleged victim has galvanized and prompted the present FIR. It appears from the text of the FIR, lodged by father that there was no direct contact between the daughter and her father. The relationship between father and the daughter seems to be quite strange as they were having no direct contacts and were alien to each other and the father was taking stock of the situation of his daughter through her Facebook account,” it said.

Chinmayanand had accused the law student and her associates of blackmail, alleging that they tried to extort Rs 5 crore from him. The Special Investigation Team, formed to investigate the incident, has filed chargesheets in both cases. The law student, who is out on bail, has been chargesheeted with five others.