The Supreme Court today refused to hear the petition challenging the March 25 order of the Allahabad High Court. In the POCSO case of Prayagraj, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati was granted anticipatory bail. This case is related to sexual exploitation of minors. In this case, the anticipatory bail of Avimukteshwaranand will remain intact. Justice M.M. Sundaresh and Justice N.K. Singh’s bench heard this case. In this case, complainant Ashutosh Brahmachari had filed this petition through AOR Saurabh Ajay Gupta. It was argued in the petition that the High Court did not properly consider the seriousness of the allegations against Swamy.
Justice Sundaresh asked the petitioner why there was so much delay in approaching the police, despite claiming to have information about the exploitation of minors. The High Court had granted relief to Jyotirmath Shankaracharya partly on the basis of what it described as ‘unusual’ behavior of minor victims who had chosen to narrate the crimes to a stranger rather than their natural guardians.
Why was there a delay of 6 days in the arrest?
In its 22-page order, the High Court also rejected the state’s argument that there is a statutory presumption of guilt against the accused under Section 29 of the POCSO Act. The bench made it clear that this concept cannot be applied at the pre-arrest stage i.e. before framing of charges. The bench also highlighted the delay of six days in giving information about the crime to the police. The victims had informed Brahmachari about this on January 18, 2026, but he did not contact the police till January 24. He claimed that he was busy in a puja.
The High Court had also said that despite claiming to be busy in puja/yagya, the complainant (celibate) had filed a separate application on January 21 under Section 109 and other sections of the BNS in relation to a separate incident. The court had also expressed strong objection to media interference in this matter.
Leave a Reply