Bengaluru: Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Janata Dal (S) MLA H D Revanna on an appeal filed by the Karnataka govt challenging his discharge in a sexual harassment case filed by a former domestic help.A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran sought Revanna’s response to the state’s plea and questioned the K’taka govt as to why it did not challenge the order when the HC dropped the charges under Section 354 of the IPC, and asked it to have some discipline.The bench noted that the domestic help has levelled different sets of allegations against the father-son duo of Revanna and Prajwal Revanna.“How can the HC change the charges? It has also quashed Section 354 (outraging a woman’s modesty),” the SC bench asked during the hearing.The state govt informed the apex court that the allegations against Revanna’s son and former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna were far more serious, with charges including rape under Section 376 of the IPC having been invoked against him. The court was told that charges had already been framed against Prajwal Revanna and that he had not been discharged from the case. The Karnataka govt further argued that the cases against father and son formed part of the same transaction and arose out of a common chargesheet.However, the Supreme Court pointed out that the allegations against the two accused were distinct. “The survivor has made allegations against both the father and the son and they are distinct,” the bench observed.The sexual abuse allegations against H D Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna surfaced after videos allegedly depicting sexual assaults by the latter on multiple women circulated on social media.Following this, an FIR was registered on April 28, 2024, against both Revanna and Prajwal on a complaint filed by one of the survivors.Revanna subsequently faced two criminal cases: one related to allegations of sexual harassment and another concerning allegations of kidnapping. He has secured bail in both cases.
