The Karnataka State Women’s Commission has written to the Karnataka police and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah urging them to investigate an alleged case of women coerced into sex in Hassan district.

Chairperson of the Commission Nagalakshmi Choudhary wrote to the Director General and Inspector General of Police and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on April 25, urging them to form a special investigation team to investigate the alleged sexual violence in Hassan district brought to its notice by the Karnataka Rajya Mahila Dourjanya Virodhi Vedike. 

In a letter dated April 24, the Vedike said pen drives containing videos of numerous women coerced into sex by a politician have been circulating across Hassan district.

“It is being said that these pen drives contain videos of influential politicians sexually abusing numerous women associated with their party, and clippings of women being subjected them to rape,” the Vedike said in the letter. 

“This incident has pushed numerous women’s lives into danger, and damaged their dignity,” the Vedike said in the letter. It also said that a local politician had written to the president of his party in December, informing him about these videos circulating in Hassan district. 

The Social Democratic Party of India too wrote to the DG-IGP on April 25, urging the police to investigate these allegations. 

Many videos of women allegedly connected with this case have been circulating on social media for several days. 

The politician in question had last year obtained an ex-parte injunction from the Principal City Civil and Sessions Court against 89 media houses preventing them from publishing any “defamatory” content about the politician in question. Courts in Bengaluru have been trigger-happy in granting ex-parte injunctions against media houses. Many of those who seek injunctions are politicians.

Read: Threat to free speech: Bengaluru courts lead the way in issuing gag order on media