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Former Member of Parliament Prajwal Revanna has been found guilty of rape. Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the special court for elected representatives has found Prajwal guilty of sexually assaulting a farm labourer who worked for his family and for recording the assault. This is the first judgement in one of four cases filed against him. The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on August 2.
The special court on April 3 had framed charges against Prajwal Revanna for sexually assaulting the farm labourer who worked for his family. The 1,625-page-long chargesheet, filed on September 14, 2024, said that the woman was sexually assaulted thrice, two times at the family’s farmhouse and once at their residence in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru.
Senior advocates Ashok Nayak and BN Jagadeesha were special public prosecutors in the case.
The 47-year-old farm labourer, Mridula*, was working at the family farmhouse in Gannikada and also accompanied the family during their trips to Bengaluru. She had accused Prajwal of raping her when he had called her inside the room on the pretext of bringing him water at the farmhouse. He was accused of raping her a second time when she had accompanied the family to their house in Basavangudi, Bengaluru. She was raped again at the Gannikada farmhouse.
Speaking to TNM earlier, Mridula had said that she stayed on with the family as she had borrowed Rs 50,000 from them, and she had to repay it. She never revealed the assault to anyone and continued working at the farm. According to her, another attempt was made by Prajwal to rape her, but she escaped at that time because he had not locked the door.
TNM had earlier reported that forensic investigation showed that the rooms visible in the video clips with Mridula in them could be matched to Prajwal’s room in the farmhouse and his room and bathroom in the Bengaluru residence.
According to the chargesheet, the assault took place in 2021 at the Gannikada farmhouse.
“Mridula was cleaning a room on the first floor when Prajwal came and asked if the room was cleaned. He then asked her to fetch some water. Mridula came back with a jug (chombu) of water when Prajwal suddenly pulled her inside his room. He then locked the door. Mridula asked him to open the door, “Baagilu tegi anna, bhaya aagutte (Open the door anna, I’m scared),” the chargesheet said.
Prajwal responded with “Enu agalla” (Nothing will happen) to her cries and then raped her. The chargesheet said that he recorded the assault on his phone.
A case of kidnapping has also been filed against Prajwal’s parents, HD Revanna and Bhavani, and Prajwal’s relative, Satish Babanna, as Mridula had complained that she was taken to the farm on April 29, 2024, and kept for a few days. This coincided with the time that the videos had started circulating. On May 2, Mridula’s son filed a complaint of kidnapping against Prajwal after he came to know of the videos. At the time, Mridula was forced to record a video saying she was alright and had not been kidnapped. A couple of days later, she managed to escape from the farm where she was being held.
The special court framed the charges under sections 376(2)(k) (raping a woman over whom one has control or power), 376(2)(n) (repeatedly raping the same woman), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (disrobing a woman), 354C (voyeurism), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66E (violation of privacy) of the Information Technology Act.
Prajwal has been in jail since last June, after complaints of sexual assault and having recorded the encounters on video emerged. The complaints started after thousands of video clips of these alleged encounters started circulating during the general elections held last year, when Prajwal, the incumbent MP, was contesting from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency.
A Special Investigation Team was formed to look into all the allegations, and four women came forward with complaints against him.
Rest of the cases
There were three more cases filed against Prajwal Revanna. Of these, the first complaint was filed by Girija* and her daughter, Sunitha*. Prajwal is accused of raping Girija and forcing Sunitha to strip on a video call.
In another case, Prajwal is accused of raping Priya*, a former member of the local body and JD(S) party worker. This assault is said to have taken place at Prajwal’s then official residence in Hassan.
A case of molestation has also been filed against Prajwal by another woman who said that he had molested her when she had approached him to seek help on a personal matter.
* Names of the victims have been changed to protect their identity.
Our coverage of this case can be accessed here.