HC rejects Prajwal Revanna’s plea to suspend life sentence in rape case

The Karnataka High Court has refused to suspend the life sentence imposed on former JDS MP Prajwal Revanna by a trail court in one of the four rape cases registered against himA division bench of Justice K S Mudagal and Justice Venkatesh Naik T on Wednesday held that considering the gravity of the offences multiple cases pending against him and the risk of witness tampering this was not a fit case for bailThe judges noted that even during the trial Revanna was not granted bail and the victim had delayed reporting the assault due to his influential backgroundSenior Advocate Sidharth Luthra representing Revanna argued that the conviction was based on weak evidence and affected by a media trialHe questioned the credibility of electronic evidence pointed to delays in the FIR and procedural lapses in forensic investigations and said the defence was not given sufficient opportunity to argue for a lesser sentenceHe also claimed political vendetta behind the accusationsOpposing the plea Special Public Prosecutor Professor Ravivarma Kumar contended that releasing Revanna on bail would endanger the victim and witnesses citing earlier abduction attemptsKumar argued that the seriousness of the repeated sexual offences against a vulnerable household worker during the lockdown period and Revannas alleged noncooperation including failure to surrender his phone weighed heavily against bailThe prosecution also told the court that the case progressed swiftly and the appeal itself could be heard expeditiously in line with Supreme Court directions to prioritise cases involving MPs and MLAsKumar emphasised that after conviction the legal principle is reversedjail is the rule not bail and that the victims testimony alone was legally sufficient to uphold the convictionThe bench observed that the defence submissions largely addressed the merits of the appeal and that alleged evidentiary gaps must be examined only during final hearing It clarified that the High Court would not reassess each piece of evidence at the stage of deciding suspension of sentence and found no prima facie illegality in the trial courts orderAfter dismissing his plea for bail the High Court has scheduled his appeal for final hearing on January 12 2026The case in which Revanna has been sentenced pertains to the one involving a 48yearold woman who was working as a help at the familys Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan districts HolenarasipuraShe was allegedly raped twice at Hassan farm house and Bengaluru residence in 2021 and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phoneThe trial court had relied on multiple pieces of evidence including video footage DNA analysis of hair strands and biological traces found on the victims clothing to convict himFour separate cases have been registered against Revanna who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment and the SIT was tasked with probing casesThe cases came to light after pendrives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan ahead of Lok Sabha polls on April 26 2024This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever