Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Aug 2: In a landmark judgment, a special court in Bengaluru on Saturday sentenced former member of Parliament and suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna to life imprisonment for the rape of a 48-year-old domestic worker. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lac and directed that Rs 7 lac be paid to the survivor as compensation.
The sentence comes a day after Revanna was convicted in one of four sexual assault and rape cases filed against him. The case involved a woman working at the family’s Gannikada farmhouse in Holenarasipura, Hassan district.
She was allegedly raped twice by Revanna in 2021—once at the farmhouse and later at his residence in Bengaluru. The assaults were reportedly recorded on his mobile phone.
During the sentencing hearing, government prosecutors N Jagadish and Ashok Nayak, along with Prajwal Revanna’s defence lawyer Nalini Mayagowda, presented arguments and counterarguments before the court.
Delivering the verdict, Judge Santosh Gajanana Bhat of the Special Court for MPs and MLAs found the 34-year-old guilty based on substantial digital and testimonial evidence.
‘Please reduce my sentence,’ weeps Revanna in court
Shortly before the sentencing, a visibly emotional Revanna broke down in the courtroom and pleaded for leniency. Speaking first in English and then in Kannada, he made an emotional appeal to the judge. "I have studied mechanical engineering. I am a merit student. Please consider my academic background. Kindly give me the minimum punishment," he said through tears.
He continued, questioning the timing and motives behind the accusations: "No one made these allegations while I was serving as an MP. Why did they emerge only during elections? The police are behind this. This is a conspiracy against me."
Revanna also claimed that his only mistake was rising too fast in politics: "I have not done anything wrong. My only fault is that I rose quickly in political life. I have not seen my parents for six months. I have a family. I will accept whatever decision the court takes—but I request the court to reduce my sentence."
High-profile case that shocked Karnataka
Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, son of former minister H D Revanna, and nephew of union minister H D Kumaraswamy, has been at the centre of a political and legal storm since multiple allegations of rape and sexual abuse surfaced earlier this year.
The case, which included the circulation of explicit videos, caused widespread outrage across the state, leading to Revanna’s arrest and suspension from the JD(S). He is facing trial in several other cases involving similar allegations, all being heard under fast-track provisions.