HC rejects Prajwal Revanna's plea to suspend life sentence in rape case

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The Karnataka High Court has refused to suspend the life sentence imposed on former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna by a trail court in one of the four rape cases registered against him.

A division bench of Justice K S Mudagal and Justice Venkatesh Naik T on Wednesday held that considering the gravity of the offences, multiple cases pending against him, and the risk of witness tampering, this was not a fit case for bail.

The judges noted that even during the trial, Revanna was not granted bail and the victim had delayed reporting the assault due to his influential background.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Revanna, argued that the conviction was based on weak evidence and affected by a "media trial."  He questioned the credibility of electronic evidence, pointed to delays in the FIR and procedural lapses in forensic investigations, and said the defence was not given sufficient opportunity to argue for a lesser sentence. He also claimed political vendetta behind the accusations.

Opposing the plea, Special Public Prosecutor Professor Ravivarma Kumar contended that releasing Revanna on bail would endanger the victim and witnesses, citing earlier abduction attempts.

Kumar argued that the seriousness of the repeated sexual offences against a vulnerable household worker during the lockdown period and Revanna's alleged non-cooperation, "including failure to surrender his phone," weighed heavily against bail.

The prosecution also told the court that the case progressed swiftly and the appeal itself could be heard expeditiously, in line with Supreme Court directions to prioritise cases involving MPs and MLAs.

Kumar emphasised that after conviction, the legal principle is reversed--"jail is the rule, not bail" and that the victim's testimony alone was legally sufficient to uphold the conviction.

The bench observed that the defence submissions largely addressed the merits of the appeal and that alleged evidentiary gaps must be examined only during final hearing. It clarified that the High Court would not reassess each piece of evidence at the stage of deciding suspension of sentence, and found no prima facie illegality in the trial court's order.

After dismissing his plea for bail, the High Court has scheduled his appeal for final hearing on January 12, 2026.

The case in which Revanna has been sentenced pertains to the one involving a 48-year-old woman who was working as a help at the family's Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district's Holenarasipura.

She was allegedly raped twice -- at Hassan farm house and Bengaluru residence-- in 2021 and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phone.

The trial court had relied on multiple pieces of evidence, including video footage, DNA analysis of hair strands, and biological traces found on the victim's clothing, to convict him.

Four separate cases have been registered against Revanna, who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment, and the SIT was tasked with probing cases.

The cases came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls on April 26, 2024.