Prajwal Revanna would be ‘menace to society’ if granted bail, SIT tells Karnataka HC

A Special Investigation Team on Monday opposed former Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna's request before the Karnataka High Court to suspend his life sentence and grant him bail in a rape case, arguing that he would be “menace to the society” if released, Live Law reported.

The division bench of Justices KS Mudgal and Venkatesh Naik T was told by Special Public Prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar that granting Prajwal Revanna bail could place the complainant in danger.

Kumar argued that the circumstances of the offence were significant and that, if released on bail, the former MP was “not only likely to indulge in similar offences and he would be a menace to the society”.

He added that the complainant had been abducted twice and that the pending abduction case, in which she is a witness and Prajwal Revanna's parents are accused, could be jeopardised if he were freed.

Kumar also argued that the court should consider Prajwal Revanna's background.

“[H]e is grandson of a former prime minister,” Live Law quoted Kumar as saying. “He was also district in-charge minister for Hassan district. The entire district machinery including IAS [Indian Administrative Service] officers worked to protect the appellant and his father and never came to the rescue of the victim and her family.”

He further highlighted that the presumption that bail is the rule and jail an exception applies to pre-trial bail and not to cases where the person has already been convicted.

The former MP from Karnataka's Hassan had been arrested on May 31, 2024, after returning to Bengaluru from Germany, where he had fled on April 26, 2024. He was suspended from the Janata Dal (Secular) on April 30, 2024.

He had fled after videos of alleged sexual assaults against several women, allegedly recorded by Prajwal Revanna himself, surfaced during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

He has since been named in four separate cases, including one in which he was convicted on August 2. A trial court found him guilty of raping a 48-year-old worker employed at his family's farmhouse and recording the assault.

Three women have accused Prajwal Revanna of sexual assault, while the fourth case concerns allegations of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code.

Soon after Prajwal Revanna fled to Germany, he and his father, former state minister HD Revanna, were booked by the Karnataka Police for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.

After being convicted, Prajwal Revanna moved the Karnataka High Court, which is scheduled to continue hearing his plea on Tuesday.

Source: Scroll
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