Accused not entitled to access statement of victim in sexual harassment case: SC

New Delhi, Oct 09: The Supreme Court said that no accused in a sexual harassment case was entitled to access a woman complainants statement recorded by a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) until the trial court took cognisance of the chargesheet.

The ruling was given in a case relating to Swami Chinmayanand. A Bench comprising Justices U U Lalit, Vineet Sareen and Ravindra Bhat disagreed with the decision of the Allahabad High Court which had directed to give a copy of the girl's statement that was recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC to Chinmaynand, accused of sexual harassment.

"The filing of the chargesheet by itself does not entitle an accused to copies of any of the relevant documents, including statement under Section 164 of the Code. No person is entitled to a copy of statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code till the appropriate orders are passed by the court after the chargesheet is filed," the court ruled.

"The filing of the chargesheet by itself does not entitle an accused to copies of any of the relevant documents, including statement under Section 164 of the Code. No person is entitled to a copy of statement recorded under Section 164 of the Code till the appropriate orders are passed by the court after the chargesheet is filed," the court had ordered.

Chinmayanand, whose trust runs the Shahjahanpur law college where the woman studied, was arrested on September 20 under section 376-C of the IPC, a charge short of rape.

It is applied when someone in authority takes advantage of his official position to induce or seduce a woman to have sex with him.

In a parallel case, the woman was charged with trying to extort money from Chinmayanand, whom she had accused of rape. The high court granted her bail on December 4. Chinmayanand was granted bail in February.

The Supreme Court had stepped in after the 23-year-old law student went missing for a few days in August last year after posting a video clip on social media, alleging sexual abuse.

A special investigation team of Uttar Pradesh Police, formed on the directions of the SC, arrested Chinmayanand about a month later.

The SIT also arrested the student after a complaint that she and her friends had tried to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, threatening to make public videos showing her giving massages to the former minister.