Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna sentenced to life in rape case

Former Janata Dal Secular Member of Parliament MP Prajwal Revanna was sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life by a Special Court in Bengaluru on Saturday a day after he was convicted in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against himAhead of the sentencing the 34yearold grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda broke down in court and pleaded for leniency stating that he is a BE Mechanical graduate who had always passed on merit and had ldquonot committed any wrongdoingrdquo reported PTIWhile delivering the verdict Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court for MPsMLAs also imposed a total fine of Rs 1150 lakh on Revanna Of this Rs 1125 lakh is to be paid to the survivorRevanna was convicted on Friday for raping a 48yearold woman who was employed as domestic help at his familys Gannikada farmhouse in Holenarasipura in Hassan district of Karnataka According to the prosecution she was raped twice mdash once at the farmhouse and again at a residence in Bengaluru in 2021 mdash and the acts were recorded by Revanna on his mobile phone PTI reportedSpeaking to reporters Special Public Prosecutor Ashok Nayak said the court awarded the maximum sentence taking into account the gravity of the crime and the fact that the offences were committed when Revanna was a sitting MPThe court has sentenced life imprisonment for Prajwal Revanna and as per law he should be in prison for the full life The prosecution had invoked various sections and for all sections the court has sentenced separate punishments and fines On the whole the fine amount is Rs 1150000 and a major share of it Rs 1125000 should be given to the victim as per the court order Nayak saidAdditional Special Public Prosecutor BN Jagadeesha added that the accused is liable to remain in prison for the rest of his life under Section 3762n of the IPCOur argument was about rape and atrocity by a powerful man on an innocent woman and the social stigma Jagadeesha said adding that Revanna has the right to appeal and may challenge the courts verdictEarlier in the day while the prosecution pushed for the maximum sentence Revanna sought a lighter punishment asserting his innocence and blaming the accusations on his ldquofastrdquo rise in politicsHe wept before the court saying ldquoThey say that I have raped multiple women but none of the women have come out voluntarily to complain they came six days before the election Lok Sabha polls last year the prosecution side brought them purposefully and made them give a complaintrdquoHe further questioned the timing and the authenticity of the complaint ldquoThe woman victim had not complained to anyone including her husband or kin she came and gave a complaint only after certain videos were circulatedrdquo he told the courtStating that he respected the courtrsquos judgement he added ldquoI have a family I have not seen my mother and father for six months now please give me a lesser sentence is what I request the courtrdquoldquoThe only mistake I made in my life is growing fast in politicsrdquo Revanna saidHe was arrested by the Special Investigation Team SIT on May 31 last year at Bengaluru Airport upon arrival from Germany in connection with a case registered at the Holenarasipura Town Police Station He was taken into custody and escorted by women officers to the SIT officeThe SIT had filed a 1632page charge sheet in September 2024 naming 113 witnesses Revanna was booked under IPC sections 3762k rape by a person in position of dominance 3762n repeated rape 354A sexual harassment 354B assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe 354C voyeurism 506 criminal intimidation and 201 causing disappearance of evidence along with Section 66E violation of privacy of the IT ActSpecial Public Prosecutor Nayak said the prosecution presented 26 witnesses and 180 documents ldquoThe main evidence is of the victim We relied not only on oral evidence but also on digital and technical evidence the DNA report and the Forensic Sciences Laboratory reportrdquo he saidldquoThe clothes that were worn by the victim during the rape were also identified and the Investigation Officer was successful in seizing them even after three years Also digital evidence played a role as the accused himself had recorded the videordquo he addedFour separate cases have been registered against Revanna who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment The cases surfaced after pen drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving him were circulated in Hassan ahead of the Lok Sabha polls held on April 26 2024Revanna who contested from the Hassan parliamentary constituency lost the election and was subsequently suspended from the JDS following the filing of the casesWith PTI inputs