SC upholds Bhavani Revanna’s bail in sex video scandal related to kidnapping case

New Delhi, October 18 (IANS): The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the anticipatory bail granted by the Karnataka High Court to Bhavani Revanna, mother of JD-S leader and prime accused in the sex video scandal case, Prajwal Revanna.

Prajwal Revanna is also the grandson of party supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.

Dismissing the special leave petition filed by the Karnataka SIT seeking cancellation of pre-arrest bail, a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant said, “If the investigation is prejudiced or derailed with the grant of anticipatory bail, we are with you (on bail). But now the investigation is over and the file has been filed.”

The bench, also comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, refused to look into the SIT’s contention that the accused, who belongs to a “very influential political family”, can influence the conduct of a fair trial, justifying the cancellation of the bond.

“We don’t want to get into this issue. They are like double-edged swords. Sometimes because of “politics” people get confused. Sometimes people misuse their political position and commit crimes. But, these are all issues that must be dealt with by the court of first instance. For us to say anything at this stage will be very, very difficult,” the apex court said.

Considering that a charge sheet has already been filed in the case and the main accused (Prajwal Revanna) has been arrested and subjected to custodial interrogation, the SC refused to interfere with the anticipatory bail granted to Bhavani Revanna.

Earlier in July, the top court, after much persuasion, agreed to look into the Karnataka SIT’s plea and sought a response from Bhavani Revanna, who is the daughter-in-law of former prime minister Deve Gowda.

Noting that the matter pertains to the freedom of a woman, whose guilt has to be determined during the trial, the apex court warned that the issue should not be politicized and questioned the role attributed to Prajwal’s mother Revanna.

In response, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the state SIT, submitted that the victim in her statement recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) described the role of Bhavani Revanna in his kidnapping

The Karnataka High Court on June 18 allowed Bhavani Revanna’s anticipatory bail plea in a kidnapping case related to the sex video scandal. As a condition for granting anticipatory bail, a bench headed by Justice Krishna S. Dixit restricted his entry to Mysuru and Hassan districts.

The victim in the kidnapping case hails from Mysuru district, while Hassan is Bhavani Revanna’s home district. In its order, the Karnataka High Court said that Bhavani Revanna had answered 85 questions asked by the police and therefore the argument of her non-cooperation with the investigation cannot be accepted.

Bhavani Revanna is currently appearing before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the kidnapping case of a maid, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Prajwal Revanna and her JD-S legislator husband , HD Revanna.