New Delhi: The law student who has accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union minister Chinmayanand of rape was arrested on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, she had been detained for questioning by the Uttar Pradesh police in a case of extortion that has been filed against her.The special investigation team probing the case arrested her from her house at 9:15 am, PTI reported, and then took her for a medical examination. She will be produced before a court later in the day.The arrest comes a day after the Shahjahanpur court admitted her plea for interim bail. “Additional District Judge Sudhir Kumar has admitted our bail application, and summoned all records related to the case on the next date of hearing on September 26,” her counsel Anoop Trivedi told reporters. “It is a big relief for us as our plea has been admitted.”This order, though, does not seem to have been enough for the police to stall her arrest.The BJP leader has not been charged with rape, even though that is what the woman has alleged. Instead, he is facing charges of “misusing authority for sexual intercourse” or “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”, criminal intimidation, stalking and wrongful confinement.Chinmayanand was arrested on Friday, nearly a month after the woman released a public video saying that she was being intimidated and feared for her life because of what had happened.As The Wire has reported before, the way this case is progressing suggests that – as is often the case – when the accused is powerful, the wheels of justice move remarkably slowly.The student had earlier claimed the police are trying to weaken the case against the ruling party politician. News18 reported she was unhappy that, inscrutably, no rape charge was slapped on Chinmayanand.On Monday, a Shahjahanpur court rejected a bail plea filed by Chinmayanand. The court said that the plea should have been filed in the sessions court.
