A Karnataka High Court bench of Justice M I Arun on Thursday, October 23, reserved its order on former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s petition challenging the cognisance taken of a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case against him.
The 81-year-old former Karnataka Chief Minister is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl at his residence in Sanjaynagar, Bengaluru, on February 2, 2024.
The girl’s mother, who is now deceased, had approached the former chief minister seeking help in connection with an earlier incident of sexual assault. Following the complaint, Bengaluru police registered an FIR on March 14, 2024.
This is the second time Yediyurappa has moved the High Court against the cognisance of the case by a lower court. His earlier challenge had succeeded, with a bench led by Justice M Nagaprasanna setting aside the trial court’s initial order on the grounds that it was issued “without application of mind.” The matter was then remanded for fresh consideration.
During the ongoing proceedings, questions were raised about whether the trial court had properly applied its mind while taking cognisance the second time. Senior counsel C V Nagesh, appearing for Yediyurappa, argued that the lower court had failed to appropriately reassess the materials on record.
The bench, while summarising part of the defence’s argument, orally observed that “accused and the audio recording on one side vis-a-vis the statement of other witnesses gives credibility to the prosecution’s case,” but added that “the trial court in the impugned order has not referred to that audio recording… this according to him amounts to non-application of mind.”
Representing the state, the special public prosecutor countered that the minor girl had not carried her own phone — which allegedly contained the original recording of the conversation with Yediyurappa — but only her mother’s phone, which “was forcibly destroyed.” The prosecutor further submitted, “He (Yediyurappa) has paid money, which he has admitted in the conversation.”
It was argued during the hearings that since the issue of cognisance itself is under challenge, the one-year statutory time limit for completing POCSO trials would not apply.
The matter is scheduled to come up on Saturday for dictation of orders.
