POCSO case against Yediyurappa: Partially recorded statement of victim to be sent to court for CID cases

The Karnataka CID submitted a requisition to the court on March 20 seeking the appointment of a lady magistrate to record the victim’s statement. The magistrate referred the requisition “for the appointment of lady JO” to the CMM for a decision.

On Saturday, the magistrate’s court noted that the CMM had issued an order in the matter and that the petition for recording the statement is closed. “Photocopy of order of Honorable CMM received. In view of the order of Honorable CMM this petition is closed. The recorded 164 Statement of victim and pendrive are ordered to be forwarded to the 1st ACMM,” the magistrate’s court said Saturday.

As part of the procedure in the POCSO case, the victim, who was allegedly harassed by the senior BJP leader at his residence in Bengaluru on February 2, was produced before a magistrate on March 19, along with her mother, who filed the police complaint, to record the victim’s statement under section 164 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The recording of the statement is considered a key step to assess the legal steps to be taken in the case, including interrogation and arrest, if the allegations stated in the FIR are substantiated before a judge.

The statement of the victim was recorded on March 19 by a male magistrate designated to record confessional statements in the Bengaluru magistrate courts. The statement was recorded verbatim in the presence of her mother and a representative of an NGO working for social services, the court observed on March 19.

After her initial statements were given behind closed doors with a video recording the victim told the court that she would need another hour to complete her statement and the court adjourned the matter for March 20 for further hearing.

The victim and her mother did not appear before the court on March 20 but the CID filed a requisition for appointment of a woman judge to record the statement of the victim. The Bengaluru police registered a sexual harassment and POCSO case against the BJP leader Yeddiyurappa on March 14 for allegedly sexually harassing a minor at his residence in Bengaluru on February 2 when the victim and her mother approached him for help in a case where the victim had allegedly been abused by a family member nine years earlier – a matter that is still undertrial in the courts.

According to the FIR registered based on a complaint filed by the mother, she went to Yediyurappa’s house to seek justice for her daughter in a rape case and for seeking the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT). She alleged that her daughter was taken to a room where she was allegedly harassed and that Yediyurappa, when questioned – after the mother was informed by the victim – denied the incident.

The Sadashivanagar police registered a case under Section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Section 354 (a) (unwelcome and explicit sexual behaviour) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case was transferred to the CID by the Karnataka Police on March 15.

Yediyurappa has refuted the allegations and said that he had helped the mother and daughter in the past.