Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take “prompt and necessary” action to cancel the diplomatic passport of Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna in view of the investigation of sexual abuse allegations against him.
An unidentified official confirmed to The Hindu on Thursday that the Ministry of External Affairs had received the same request from the Karnataka government previously and that the matter is under process.
On April 28, Revanna and his father, former Karnataka minister HD Revanna, were booked by the Karnataka Police for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. The first information report was based on a complaint by a woman who had worked in the Revanna household for three-and-a-half years.
Prajwal Revanna, who represents Karnataka’s Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, is believed to be in Germany, where he flew on the night of April 27 using his diplomatic passport. He was suspended from the Janata Dal (Secular) on April 30.
“Such abuse of privileges and deliberate acts of non-cooperation deserve serious action by the Union government”, the Siddaramaiah said in a letter to Modi on Thursday, adding that it was “disheartening” that his previous communication to the prime minister had not been acted on.
Earlier in May, the chief minister had written to Modi urging him to move the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs to cancel Revanna’s diplomatic passport.
On Thursday, the chief minister said it was “shameful” that Prajwal Revanna fled the country “shortly after news of his heinous actions emerged and just a few hours before the first FIR [first information report] was filed against him”.
He also noted that the Congress government in Karnataka had taken “prompt” action by setting up a Special Investigation Team on April 27 to probe the allegations of sexual abuse against Prajwal Revanna.
Th team was formed after videos of alleged sexual assault against several women, allegedly recorded by Prajwal Revanna himself, surfaced ahead of Lok Sabha polls in the constituency on April 26.
“It is a matter of serious concern that the accused Prajwal Revanna has managed to remain in hiding to this day despite the issue of a Look Out Circular, a Blue Corner Notice and two notices by the Investigating Officer under section 41A CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure]”, Siddaramaiah said on Thursday.
On May 7, the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, had issued a Blue Corner Notice against Prajwal Revanna.
The Blue Corner Notice is an alert issued by the intergovernmental organisation to law enforcement agencies worldwide “to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation”.
Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure is related to a notice issued to appear before a police officer.
“The FIR against Prajwal Revanna contains charges in the nature of rape, sexual assault, disrobing women and forcibly video-graphing sexual acts in order to threaten the victims,” the chief minister noted.
Siddaramaiah added: “Therefore, I urge you to kindly consider this matter with utmost seriousness and take prompt and necessary actions to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna, under Section 10(3)(h) of the Passport Act, 1967 [pertaining to the impounding or revoking of a passport] or under any other relevant law and secure his return to the country in the interest of public.”
So far, three women have filed complaints of sexual assault against Prajwal Revanna.
On May 13, a Bengaluru court granted bail to HD Revanna in connection with the alleged abduction of a woman, as part of the sexual abuse case against Prajwal Revanna.
The police had arrested HD Revanna on May 4, after a special court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail, on the the basis of the second first information report by a relative of the woman who claimed that she had been raped by Prajwal Revanna.
The third first information report was filed based on a complaint by a woman who was a zilla panchayat member and used to visit legislators to seek funds for development works. The woman alleged that she was raped and harassed by Prajwal Revanna between January 1, 2021, and April 25, 2024.
Also read: ‘Women are going to be more scared now’: Why activists say HD Revanna’s bail should have been denied
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