Karnataka HC refuses bail to former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna in two rape and one sexual assault case

On the main contention raised by Prajwal Revanna was that the complaints were registered after three to four years after the alleged offences

The High Court of Karnataka has refused to grant bail as well as anticipatory bail to former Member of Parliament Prajwal Revanna in two cases of alleged rape and one case of alleged sexual assault registered against him based on three separate complaints by three women.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while rejecting three separate petitions filed by the former JD(S) lawmaker from Hassan seeking bail in one of the two rape cases, and anticipatory bail in a case of rape, and another case of sexual assault on a woman.

The main contention raised on behalf of Prajwal Revanna was that the complaints were registered after three to four years after the alleged offences. In two cases, it was claimed that report of the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) on the video related to the alleged rape has neither confirmed the identity of the victim nor traced the source of the video to the JD(S) leader.

However, in one case the Special Investigating Team (SIT) had pointed out that the FSL had stated that the voice samples of Prajwal Revanna matched with the voice of the male recorded in video footage in which an aged woman was allegedly being raped by him.

Of the two rape cases, one was registered on a complaint by a former domestic help, and another on a complaint by a woman, aged over 60 years, who was working as a help in his farm house.

The third case, of sexual assault, was registered based on a complaint of a woman who claimed to have taken the help of the former MP to secure admission for her son in a school, taking advantage of which the JD(S) leader allegedly started to make video calls to her. The former lawmaker allegedly coerced the woman to strip on video calls, which he recorded.

Published - October 21, 2024 03:18 pm IST