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Journalism of Courage
One of the lasting impressions in public memory of Bhavani Revanna is her angry reaction — captured in a video that went viral — after her luxury car was involved in a road accident near Saligrama in Mysuru in December 2023. Bhavani, 55, is the mother of former Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Hassan Prajwal Revanna who stands accused of rape.
After a motorcyclist rammed into her car, Bhavani Revanna stepped out to rant at him for the damage he had caused to the vehicle, without pausing to inquire about the welfare of two villagers on the bike who were injured in the accident. “Burn that motorcycle,” she raged as the injured villagers parked the motorcycle on the roadside.
The car was later found to have been registered with a private construction firm in Bengaluru called Ashpra Infra Engineers run by businessman Kiran Reddy who has business ties with the family of Bhavani Revanna and her husband H D Revanna, the JD(S) MLA from Holenarasipura in Hassan and a former state minister.
In Hassan and its surrounding areas, the diktat of the Revanna family has held sway for more than two decades. While the pro-farmer and socialist political legacy of Revanna’s father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda gave them a political foothold in the family borough of Hassan, the Revannas have been calling all the shots there in recent years.
Though Revanna, 66, a six-time MLA, has been the political face of the family in Hassan — since becoming an MLA for the first time from Holenarasipura in 1994 — Bhavani is widely considered the real boss in the family. The politically ambitious Bhavani has nurtured hopes of becoming an MLA herself, and positioned herself for a JD(S) ticket on more than one occasion, ever since her sister-in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy, the wife of Revanna’s younger brother and former Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy, entered the Assembly for the first time in 2008 from Madhugiri.
The highest position Bhavani Revanna has attained so far is that of a zilla panchayat member in Hassan. She positioned herself for an Assembly ticket from Hassan for the 2023 Assembly polls but was rebuffed by Kumaraswamy who picked a party worker as the candidate. “If her candidature was inevitable, I would have asked her to contest. But it is not necessary as there is a capable candidate in the segment,” Kumaraswamy said last year while rejecting his sister-in-law’s candidature.
The entry of Bhavani’s younger son Prajwal into politics to replace his grandfather as the JD(S) candidate for the Hassan Lok Sabha seat in 2019 is believed to have been at her instance. According to locals, Prajwal abandoned an MBA programme in Australia midway to return to India and joined politics at his mother’s behest. “It was Bhavani Revanna’s dream that her younger son should inherit the political legacy of the family. She worked to establish him in Hassan as a leader,” said an advocate from Hassan.
The Revanna family’s overbearing manner of running the Hassan region is widely believed to have put Prajwal and his father Revanna in a precarious political position even before the sexual assault cases emerged against the son ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in April. Keeping in line with her reputation, Bhavani has come under the scanner of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police for allegedly trying to shield Prajwal from the fallout of the accusations. During arguments in an anticipatory bail plea filed by her, the SIT identified Bhavani as the mastermind and kingpin in the abduction of a victim of alleged sexual assault by her son.
The Special Public Prosecutor in the case, Prof. Ravivarma Kumar, argued that “the investigation has revealed that this lady is the kingpin, who masterminded the abduction to prevent the victim from lodging a complaint against her son. This is seen in the evidence that has been collected”.
“The investigation reveals that the petitioner was constantly monitoring the victims in order to cover up the allegations against her son, who is accused of being a serial rapist, and to protect him from being prosecuted for the sexual assaults committed by him,” the prosecutor argued on behalf of the SIT. The Karnataka High Court was told that investigations had revealed that Bhavani managed to bring “seven of the victims into her net”.
Bhavani Revanna and seven others, including her husband, are being investigated after they allegedly forced a victim of alleged sexual assault by Prajwal to leave her home and go into hiding. The SIT has registered three cases of sexual assault against Prajwal based on evidence found in the alleged videos of assault after tracing the victims found in the videos.
On June 18, the High Court granted anticipatory bail to Bhavani Revanna after considering her role in the family.
“In our social structure, women are the epicentres of family life; their displacement, even for a short period, ordinarily disturbs the dependents. Added, they are emotionally attached to the family. Therefore, investigating agencies should be very cautious while seeking their custodial interrogation. Women, by their very nature, deserve preferential treatment inter alia in matters relating to bail, regular or anticipatory,” ruled a single-judge Bench.
