‘Stop another Unnao from happening’: Supreme Court lawyers write to CJI over missing Shahjahanpur law student case

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]HILE Shahjahanpur postgraduate law student remained untraceable for the third consecutive day today, police booked former Union minister and three-time MP Swami Chinmayanand on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping the student of his college, who had earlier accused him of threatening her and “destroying the lives of several girls.”

Her father on Wednesday said he was determined to fight against “big people”.

A group of Supreme Court lawyers on Wednesday wrote a letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) and appealed him to take a suo motu cognizance of the missing law student who had accused former Union Minister of sexual harassment in a Facebook live broadcast on Saturday.

A student of Swami Shukdevanand Law College, Shahjahanpur had accused the Chinmayanand of “ruining the lives of many girls.” She also alleged receiving death threats from self-proclaimed Godman and chairman of the college.

The group in a letter to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi appealing that the court take cognisance of the matter, which was mentioned before a bench headed by Justice NV Ramana on Wednesday.

Noting that the apex court has interfered in matters concerning human rights before, the letter stressed on a suo motu cognisance of the incident to ensure that another incident like the Unnao case doesn’t occur.

“…we as a society cannot allow another Unnao case to happen. This Hon’ble Court has been interfering in letter petitions when it comes to protection of human rights,” the letter added.

“On the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s father, we have registered a case against Swami Chinmayanand for alleged kidnapping, and threatening the victim’s family,” Director general of police (DGP) OP Singh told HT, adding that the UP Special Task Force (STF) had been asked to join the investigation and teams sent to different locations to trace the student. “We have some vital clues through electronic surveillance and are confident of tracing her very soon.”

Father of the girl, Harish Chandra Sharma, said his daughter’s mobile has been switched off since August 23. “We are fighting a battle against big people. They enjoy political clout and have criminals as their ‘shishya’ (disciples). But we are determined to take our fight to a logical conclusion.”

“Her mother visited hostel on Monday after we couldn’t contact her despite repeated attempts. But no one was there to tell us where has she gone,” he added, alleging that she has gone missing at the behest of the 72-year-old BJP leader, who heads Mumukshu ashram.

Earlier, taking suo motu cognisance of the incident the National Commission for Women issued a notice to the DGP of Uttar Pradesh to investigate the matter as quickly as possible and ensure the safety and protection of the woman.