Yediyurappa moves HC for quashing of Pocso case after victim’s brother questions progress in probe
The Karnataka Police CID has moved a special court for Pocso cases seeking an arrest warrant for B S Yediyurappa.
3 min read
B S Yediyurappa files a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash a case filed against him (File Image)Senior BJP leader and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash a case filed against him in March this year under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
In a parallel development, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police has moved a special court for Pocso cases seeking an arrest warrant for the former chief minister. Yediyurappa was summoned by the CID on Wednesday for investigations of the case but reported that he was away from Bengaluru and sought time to appear, sources said.
Yediyurappa approached the High Court after the brother of the minor victim in the alleged Pocso case also filed a petition on Tuesday seeking the High Court’s intervention to speed up investigations in the police case filed under the Pocso Act on March 14, 2024. The brother filed the petition through the senior criminal and human rights lawyer S Balan.
The former Karnataka chief minister has refuted the allegations of sexual harassment and said that he had helped the mother and daughter in the past.
Both cases, which have received filing numbers, are yet to be registered by the High Court, and are expected to be taken up over the weekend.
In his petition, Yediyurappa said the case registered against him based on a complaint by the mother of a teenage girl is false and that it should be quashed under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The victim’s brother approached the High Court after the death of their mother on May 26. According to the brother’s petition, the Karnataka Police have not progressed with the investigations into the Pocso case against the former CM despite the lapse of two months after the registration of the case. “Accused was not arrested and not even 41(A) notice was given, hence this petition as there is no efficacious remedy other than approaching this Hon’ble Court for invoking its extraordinary writ jurisdiction,” says the petition.
The plea indicates that the victim’s mother had also written to the Chief Justice of Karnataka for a CBI probe into the matter.
The mother of the victim filed the Pocso case against Yediyurappa in March this year alleging that he had touched her daughter inappropriately in February when she went to the residence of the senior BJP leader seeking help for justice in a 2015 case of assault on the child. The mother, 54, who relentlessly pursued justice for her daughter in the 2015 and the recent case died on May 26 this year.
CID has obtained voice samples of the former chief minister for comparison with voices on a video recording done by the mother on the day of the alleged incident. Yediyurappa appeared before CID investigators on April 12 to provide the voice samples, sources said.
You May Like
