Offence by Prajwal Revanna could be construed as offence against society at large: Court

The Hindu

a day ago

The Special Court of Sessions for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs while awarding 'imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life' to former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, said that the offence in this case 'could be construed as an offence committed towards the society at large wherein women are worshiped'. In his order, judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat further said that 'the question of commission of an offence by a legislator is a serious aspect'.
Terming the case, where the victim is a former help at the accused's family farm as a 'David vs Goliath' battle, Mr. Bhat said that 'committing sexual offences against a maid and other women in society by showing disdain towards them due to their economic condition is a grave offence' and that 'the act of committing forcible sexual intercourse on the victim repeatedly would be more than committing of murder'.
Quoting the Sanskrit saying 'Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitaha...', the judge said that 'dharma should not be destroyed so that we may not be destroyed as a consequence thereof' and awarded the maximum punishment under Section 376(2)(n) (repeated rape on the same woman) of Indian Penal Code for Prajwal Revanna. The judgment rejects appeals for leniency by the convict's counsel on the grounds that he has to look after his former Prime Minister grandfather and aging parents and that he had no criminal antecedents, among other grounds.
Victim's statement key to conviction
The 480-page judgment examines the victim's statement at length and considers depositions by multiple witnesses, including her sister who was working with her and other family members, Prajwal's driver Karthik, who allegedly copied the explicit clips from the MP's phone, to corroborate the same and rejected defence's arguments that there were contradictions in the same.
The defence had argued that the victim had never worked at the Gannikada farmhouse and it did not belong to the Revanna family in 2021, when the crime was committed. It further argued that the victim was unable to tell the date of the crimes.
However, the court concludes that the depositions by Karthik, the victim's sister and the victim's son studying at a school in Gannikada for three years, proved that she worked there.
Further, the defence's contradictory stands itself indicated that they accepted that she worked at the farm, the court concludes. Further, the farmhouse belonged to Bhavani Revanna's brother Prakash since 2015 and was bought by Suraj Revanna in October, 2021 and the family, including Prajwal was using the same, the court concludes through multiple witnesses.
Regarding the dates of the two sexual assaults, the court concludes that the victim being a rustic villager, also an illiterate, though may not have told the exact dates, was consistent with the timeline of events, as during COVID-19 lockdown and four years before she lodged the complaint.
The court also quotes the statement of the victim's sister who was with her when she was abused at Basavanagudi, though the victim did not confide in her then.
The sister told the court that on the third day of their visit to Basavanagudi, where the victim was raped, her sister was dull and upon enquiry, she was silently uttering that they cannot do anything. The court said this 'would become relevant because of the fact of the behaviour of the victim immediately after the incident'.
Corroborative evidence
Apart from the victim's statement, the judgment further relies on two scientific evidences.
'The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt about the commission of the incident by placing corroborative evidence of the scientific experts in the form of DNA Examination Report wherein the stains found on the sari and other clothes of the victim matched with the DNA profiling of accused Prajwal Revanna. The prosecution has also proved the digital records in the form of videos which were circulated were not edited/morphed and also the male and female voice found in the videos matched with the sample voice of accused Prajwal Revanna and the victim,' the judgment said.