The Karnataka High Court has directed the trial court not to frame charges against former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna until January 16. The Hassan MP is accused of sexually assaulting five women. The Court also rejected his plea to provide him with copies of all the digital evidence against him, LiveLaw reported.
Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order on Thursday, January 9, restraining the trial court from framing charges against him until January 16. However, the trial court is permitted to hear arguments in the case as scheduled on January 13.
Prajwal Revanna approached the High Court after the trial court on December 1 rejected his plea, filed under Section 207 of the Criminal Procedure Code, to provide him with copies of all the documents and electronic evidence against him compiled by the police.
Additional Special Public Prosector BN Jagadeesha told the High Court that Prajwal had already been given copies of all the evidence pertaining to the cases.
According to LiveLaw, Jagadeesha informed the court that the evidence sought by Prajwal ran into 15,920 images and 2,235 images. He said that these images have nothing to do with the crime at hand. Further he pointed out that the present application was made with a view to delay the trial.
Revanna's counsel argued that the investigation officers in the different crimes have sent the very same phone for forensic but Revanna was provided only the subsequent report, not all the reports.
Responding to this, the court observed, “Why do you (Revanna) want the clone content of the entire content on the phone that is retrieved. The privacy of several women are involved in this.”
“Give only whatever is relevant to his case. We will not permit anyone to reveal the identity of others (victims) or endanger them in any way,” the Court, according to Bar and Bench.
The court will continue to hear this case on January 16.
According to the police, about 70 women are seen in the videos and photographs which were allegedly recorded by Prajwal Revanna.
Five women have accused Prajwal Revanna of varying degrees of sexual assault. The Special Investigating Team has filed three chargesheets against Prajwal. Key evidence against him includes DNA recovered from the clothing of the survivors, and forensic techniques which match the genitals in the images and videos to Prajwal Revanna’s body.
Read: The evidence trail in the Prajwal Revanna sexual assault case
TNM has been continuously reporting on this case, speaking to survivors and others affected to explore the profound societal impact of the sexual abuse videos. Our coverage can be accessed here.