Justice At Last, Revanna Arrested By Karnataka Women Cops

The sigh of relief on the faces of the Special Investigation Team probing the Hassan sex scandal case was palpable this week after they arrested Prajwal Revanna, the main accused in the Hassan sex scandal case, at the IT city’s International Airport. They have been hunting for him ever since the scandal surfaced in the last week of April.

Significantly, the MP was arrested immediately the minute he arrived from Munich by a specially constituted five member women’s team of the probe agency which later escorted him to the headquarters of the state’s Criminal Investigation Department. This was a symbolic message to the hapless victims of the cases against Prajwal .

Subsequently,he was taken to the Bowring Hospital for a medical test before being produced before the court. He is expected to undergo a potency test in the next few days with the police also making efforts to trace the equipment he allegedly used to make the videos in Hassan.

The importance of the arrest by SIT’s women’s team was not lost on the citizens and politicians ,evidenced by the message that was posted on ‘X ‘ by Bhaskar Rao, former police commissioner turned politician. The SIT’s decision was a strong positive sign that Karnataka’s women police officials “ will not only deal with the perpetrator but send a message to the hundreds of women whose modesty was outraged.” Besides , it would “ create confidence in them to come forth . Good ,SIT Chief," his post read.

In fact, police officials maintained that the decision to depute a women’s team to arrest the MP was to underline the importance of accountability besides emphasising that “justice was being administered by women. “

Not surprisingly, senior women officials including Dr .Suman Pennekar and Mysuru Superintendent of Police, Seema Latkar ,in association with other officials, executed their responsibility adroitly. Above all, the police were also determined to send a message to the victims that they would get justice , at all cost.

More than the probe agency officials, the messaging ,hopefully, would give the necessary confidence to the hapless victims ,considering the manner in which they were exploited ,even blackmailed, as is evident from their complaints to the police.

Initial reports suggested that over 2900 video clips of multiple victims were circulated last month . Though only three complaints have been filed so far, the police hopes that the arrest of the accused would lead to more victims coming forward to seek justice.

Further, the affected women would be equally reassured after the rape accused MP was remanded to the custody of the probe agency for six days by the 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan magistrate court . Especially, as they had lost all hopes of getting justice as Prajwal went undercover in Germany immediately after video clips of the scandal went public, barely a few days before the first stage of the Lok Sabha polls were completed in Karnataka on April 26. He was contesting for the seat as a JDS candidate in this election.

Post the MP’s arrest, which was made easier at the airport as he had a Diplomatic passport, state Home Minister, G.Parameshwara, appealed to the victims to come forth .” We have already stated that those who faced trouble from him should come forward and file their complaints.”

Meanwhile, speculation about Prajwal’s sudden decision to return to face charges against him, continues to evoke interest. While it is known that he feared cancellation of his Diplomatic passport and consequent arrest in Germany, sources in the JDS claim that the move was pre-planned . The idea was to save further embarrassment to the party, his immediate family, particularly,grandfather and former Prime Minister,Deve Gowda,besides the alliance partner ,the BJP.

Sources feel that if the MP had returned immediately after the charges went public,it would have given more ammunition to the Opposition to attack the Gowda family and the NDA alliance as the election season was on.

The argument seems misplaced considering that he gave the Opposition the much needed ammunition to embarrass his parents and the NDA alliance, going by the attacks on him by Congress leader ,Rahul Gandhi,who accused him of being “ a mass rapist.”

Yet another reason for his return could be the desperate plea by Deve Gowda,urging him to return and face the charges against him.

Ashok Naik, the Additional Special Public Prosecutor , however, had also argued before the magistrate that Prajwal returned only after an arrest warrant was issued against him in addition to a Blue Corner notice.” He feared the possibility of an arrest on a foreign land.” While seeking the accused MP’s police custody, the prosecution charged that the MP fled the country,using his Diplomatic passport .

Prajwal’s advocate, Arun Kumar ,on his part, argued that only a day’s custody was enough for SIT to question his client as he had surrendered and was even cooperating with the probe agency.

Meanwhile, the Special Court which placed Prajwal in SIT’s custody up to June 6, rejected an anticipatory bail petition filed by Bhavani Revanna, in the kidnapping case relating to her husband, H.D Revanna, father of the accused MP.

The case pertains to the kidnapping of a former domestic help who worked in the Revanna household .