The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea filed by former Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna requesting that the trial in two pending sexual assault cases against him be shifted to another court, Live Law reported.
Revanna had requested that the trial be moved from the court of Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat to some other trial court, contending there would be bias as the judge had convicted him in another rape case, according to Bar and Bench.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the former Hassan MP’s argument.
“We have no reason to doubt that the officer would not be swayed by the fact that the petitioner was found guilty in the earlier case,” the bench observed. “...will confine his conclusions on the basis of evidence led in the pending trial.”
Revanna had approached the Supreme Court after the Karnataka High Court rejected a similar plea in September.
The trial court had previously rejected the plea for transfer, observing that it was a special court designated to try offences against MPs and MLAs, Live Law reported. The High Court had endorsed this reasoning.
The former MP from Karnataka’s Hassan had been arrested on May 31, 2024, after returning to Bengaluru from Germany, where he had fled on April 26, 2024. He was suspended from the Janata Dal (Secular) on April 30, 2024.
He had fled after videos of alleged sexual assaults against several women, allegedly recorded by Prajwal Revanna himself, surfaced during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
He has been named in four cases, including one in which he was convicted on August 2. The trial court found him guilty of raping a 48-year-old worker employed at his family’s farmhouse and recording the assault.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment and an appeal in the matter is pending before the High Court, Bar and Bench reported. On December 3, the court refused to suspend the sentence while it hears the appeal.
Three women have accused Prajwal Revanna of sexual assault, while the fourth case concerns allegations of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code.
Soon after Prajwal Revanna fled to Germany, he and his father, former state minister HD Revanna, were booked by the Karnataka Police for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.
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