Former MP Prajwal Revanna gets life sentence for rape of domestic worker

The former Janata Dal (Secular) leader was sentenced on two counts of rape, three counts of sexual harassment, and one count of criminal intimidation and destruction of evidence.

Prajwal, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and the son of the former Karnataka minister H D Revanna, has been in prison since May 31, 2024, when he was arrested on his return from Germany, where he had fled following the emergence of explicit videos of sexual attacks on women. The videos, allegedly recorded by him on his mobile phone, were leaked ahead of the April 26, 2024, Parliament election in Hassan, where Prajwal was the candidate for the JDS-BJP alliance.

Apart from video recordings of the sexual assaults, a Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka Police constituted to investigate the rape cases also relied on a DNA analysis report of hair follicles and residual body fluids found on a garment worn by the woman on the day she was assaulted at the farmhouse of the Revanna family, officials said, adding that a match was found between the samples collected from Prajwal and the DNA found on the garment.

The conviction came at the end of a trial that began on May 2, with the recording of the statement of the rape survivor.

The chargesheet in the case was filed by the SIT in December 2024, and charges were framed on April 3 this year. The chargesheet was 1,632 pages long and was backed by 113 witnesses.

The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the survivor after she was rescued on May 5 from a farmhouse near Mysuru, where she was allegedly kept in confinement after being identified in the leaked videos of sexual assaults.

“The victim was a domestic worker, and he was a powerful person with high political connections. Since she was a poor woman, she remained silent about the repeated rape by the accused. She had a family to look after and felt that nobody would believe her complaint. After four years, when a video of the sexual assault went viral, her family rallied around her and convinced her that she was not in the wrong. This support from her family helped her get justice is what we feel as the prosecutors,” state prosecutor Ashok Naik said.

“It is the courage given by her family that helped her file a police complaint, record a statement before a magistrate under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code and also remember that she had left some of her clothes behind at the farmhouse after the sexual assault. This was all crucial evidence to prove she was telling the truth,” the prosecutor said.

Special public prosecutor in the case, Jagadish Byatha, said after the verdict, “Today, during the hearing on sentence, the accused himself said that no one had filed a complaint against him when he was ruling Hassan district. What does ruling Hassan district mean? It shows the atrocities committed by this person. He is a people’s representative and he could have said that he served Hassan district, not ruled it.”

Forensic evidence that the videos of the crime were not morphed also helped establish the case, officials said. “It was the same woman in the video, and the incident that occurred four years ago was shown to be true,” prosecutor Naik said.

“The special reason for giving the maximum punishment is the fact that the accused is a lawmaker who makes laws to deter crimes. In 2019, when the accused was an MP, a law was passed for the speedy trial of rape cases within two months. We argued for a strong message to be sent through the verdict, and the court has accepted our arguments,” the prosecutor said.

A former driver of the former MP was the whistleblower who facilitated the initiation of multiple cases of rape and sexual harassment against Prajwal. The driver, Karthik N, 34, testified in court during the trial and said that he found over 2,000 explicit pictures and 40-50 videos of sexual assault incidents on Prajwal’s phone.

The trial in a second case, where Prajwal is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a former JDS zilla panchayat worker with threats and coercion, is currently underway. The husband of the victim, also a JDS worker, recorded his statement recently.

The former MP is also accused in a case of sexual assault on a cook who worked for the Revanna family and the alleged sexual harassment of the cook’s daughter.

Prajwal’s family has alleged a political conspiracy involving the ruling Congress party in the cases of sexual assault involving him. They claimed that this was part of efforts to break the political stranglehold of the Revanna family on the Hassan parliamentary seat.

Prajwal lost the Hassan Lok Sabha seat to the Congress party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Stories For You

‘Swadeshi push’ | PM Modi underlines ‘economic priorities’ after Trump’s ‘dead economy’ jibe

‘Jaitley threatened me over farm laws… 2024 LS polls were rigged,’ claims Rahul, draws BJP fire

Voter deletions in Bihar draft rolls: 4 lakhs in Patna district to 26,256 in Sheikhpura