Prajwal Revanna handed life term in jail in Holenarsipur rape case

BENGALURU: The special court for elected representatives on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna in a rape case registered at the Holenarsipur police station. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the convict.

Handing down severe punishment, the court said Prajwal Revanna will serve jail term for his entire life. It also ordered Rs 7 lakh relief for the victim. The court had on Friday found Prajwal Revanna guilty in the rape case involving a domestic help and had reserved its judgment on the quantum of sentence.

Following the verdict on Friday, Prajwal Revanna had broke, down in court. The case is related to an incident at a farmhouse in Holenarasipura, Hassan district. The conviction comes just 14 months after the case surfaced. Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, has been convicted in one of four rape cases filed against him.

The matter came into light in April last year after obscene videos of sexual harassment against multiple women were leaked ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He was arrested on May 31, 2024 after returning from Germany, where he had remained for 35 days, after hundreds of explicit videos surfaced, allegedly featuring him with multiple women.

He had earlier been denied bail by both the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Revanna, told the bench that the offence of Section 376 IPC (rape) was not mentioned in the complaint.

Justice Bela M Trivedi pointed out that there are several other complaints. “You are so powerful”, the bench told Revanna’s counsel. Revanna had challenged the Karnataka High Court order of October 21 which dismissed his regular bail and anticipatory bail pleas.

In June 2024, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police, which is investigating cases of sexual assault and harassment against Prajwal Revanna, registered a fourth case against him. The SIT had filed a chargesheet of 2,144 pages in the sexual assault and rape case.

While three cases registered against Prajwal Revanna invoked the Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s section for sexual assault, the fourth case was registered under sections for sexual harassment, stalking, criminal intimidation of a victim, as well as clandestinely recording and sharing images of the victim.