A Bengaluru court has formally framed charges against suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna in a rape case involving serious allegations of sexual assault, voyeurism, and criminal intimidation. The charges stem from a complaint by a former domestic worker who accused Revanna of repeatedly raping her and threatening to leak explicit videos he allegedly recorded during the assaults.
Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat passed the order on April 3, dismissing Revanna’s discharge application and clearing the way for a full-fledged trial.
Revanna now faces charges under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including:
- Section 376(2)(k) – Rape by a person in a position of control
- Section 376(2)(n) – Repeated rape
- Section 354A – Sexual harassment
- Section 354B – Assault with intent to disrobe
- Section 354C – Voyeurism
- Section 506 – Criminal intimidation
- Section 201 – Destruction of evidence
He has also been booked under Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, 2008, for unauthorized circulation of private images.
The court observed that there was sufficient material to proceed with a trial, including forensic evidence and the survivor’s testimony. In its detailed order, the court stated:
“It is to be presumed in ordinary prudence that no woman would come before the court to make statement about her own chastity which is considered to be much more important than being alive in normal Indian traditional society.”
The complaint relates to incidents dating back to 2021, during the COVID-19 lockdown, when the survivor was employed at a farmhouse belonging to the Revanna family. She alleged that Revanna repeatedly raped her, recorded the acts, and threatened to leak the videos, preventing her from speaking out. She quit her job but came forward after several sexually explicit videos allegedly involving Revanna surfaced online in 2023.
Following public outrage, Revanna fled to Germany after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but was arrested upon his return to India on May 31, 2024. He has remained in custody since.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted for the case, submitted a chargesheet in August 2024. Revanna’s legal team argued that the delay in filing the complaint and the absence of the original recording device cast doubt on the prosecution’s case. However, the court maintained that these were matters of trial:
“The delay in filing the complaint and non-recovery of the original device are aspects to be explained during trial, not at the stage of framing charges.”
Revanna had also challenged the SIT’s authority to file a chargesheet, contending that it was not a “police station” under the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court rejected this, noting that the SIT functioned under the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which had been notified as a police station by a January 2024 government order.
The case is slated for its next hearing on April 9, 2025.
Case: SIT vs Prajwal – Available on LAWFYI.IO
