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The Telangana High Court on Thursday, May 14, adjourned to May 15 the hearing in Bandi Bageerath’s plea seeking interim protection from arrest in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) case against him.
During the hearing, his lawyer argued that the “conduct” of the minor survivor was a relevant factor in the case. Bageerath, son of BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl and has been absconding since the FIR was registered on May 8.
Senior advocate and YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP S Niranjan Reddy appeared for Bageerath before the Telangana High Court. According to LiveLaw, the court initially observed that it could not grant interim protection without hearing the victim first.
Niranjan Reddy reportedly argued that the complaint against Bageerath was false, and said that his client would appear before the police if granted interim protection by the court. Bageerath had failed to appear before police despite being issued a notice directing him to appear by 2 pm on May 13.
LiveLaw reported that Niranjan Reddy also stressed on observing the “conduct” of both parties. He said, “...in POCSO if child is 15-18 yrs it would still be case of POCSO if made out, but conduct of victim is a factor.”
Since the allegations came to light on May 9, supporters of the BJP and Bageerath have circulated visuals showing the girl and her family interacting with him, in what critics have described as an attempt to malign them. The face and identity of the minor survivor and her parents have also been shared online, despite this being a crime under the POCSO Act.
Niranjan Reddy also argued that there was reason to doubt whether the survivor was a minor, citing a chargesheet in an underage driving case against the girl from 2021 in which her age was reportedly mentioned as 15. According to reports, the girl has two birth certificates carrying different years of birth – 2008 and 2010 – though in either case she would still have been a minor at the time of the alleged offences.
Bageerath is accused of sexually assaulting the girl multiple times between October and December 2025 after the two allegedly met through mutual friends around June 2025. In her complaint filed at the Pet Basheerabad police station on May 8, the girl’s mother alleged that he subjected her daughter to repeated sexual abuse, emotional blackmail, and psychological control, including interfering in her educational decisions and isolating her from independent choices.
Police initially booked Bageerath under charges of assault or using criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty and sexual harassment, along with provisions of the POCSO Act. After recording the girl’s statement, they later added the charge of aggravated sexual assault under POCSO.
On the same day that the complaint was filed against him, Bageerath also filed a counter-complaint accusing the girl’s family of attempting to extort him and threatening to file false harassment cases unless he married her.
His lawyer Niranjan Reddy also argued before the court that the last alleged incident of sexual assault took place in December 2025 and that no police complaint had been filed until May 8, 2026.
Meanwhile, police have launched a search operation for Bageerath after he failed to appear for questioning, with teams reportedly sent to Karimnagar and Delhi. There has been mounting public anger over the delay in action against Bageerath in the case, prompting criticism of alleged abuse of power and preferential bias for the Union Minister’s son.
Bandi Sanjay had initially dismissed the allegations as a “political hit job” intended to malign him ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Hyderabad on May 10. However, speaking at his annual Hindu Ekta Yatra in Karimnagar on May 12, he said: “My son has assured me that he has done nothing wrong and will come out clean. If my son is genuinely at fault, I will not forgive him.”