Allahabad High Court on Friday accepted the petition of Swami Avimukteshwaranand, the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, to put a stay on any possible effort of the police to arrest him in a case of alleged sexual assault on two students.
The court of Justice Jitendra Kumar Sinha rejected the argument of Manish Goyal, additional advocate-general of Uttar Pradesh, that nobody can move directly with such a petition based on apprehension. P.N. Mishra, the counsel for the Shankaracharya, told reporters: “The court stays the arrest of Avimukteshwaranand and his disciple, Swami Mukundanand. It is proof that everything is being cooked up against the Shankaracharya.”
The Shankaracharya’s counsel told the court that the case was filed by Ashutosh Brahmachari, who claimed to be a patron of the victims. The Shankaracharya told reporters after the court order on Friday: “The counsel for the government has admitted in the court that the two children never visited my ashram....”