Prajwal Revanna case: SIT reaches out to more survivors in Karnataka

The special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged sexual harassment of women by Hassan MP and now-suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna is making efforts to reach out to survivors — some of whom have been identified from widely circulated videos of the crimes — to come forward and file a complaint, a senior officer said on Monday.
“As expected, the women (survivors) are scared and worried about coming forward to give a statement. We are in constant touch with (them) and taking confidence-building measures so that they come forward to lodge a complaint,” a senior officer privy to the ongoing probe said, requesting anonymity.
As part of its confidence-building measures, the SIT also warned people at large not to share the videos showing women being sexually assaulted and molested allegedly by Revanna on social media or personal messenger applications.
Noting that sharing such videos would damage the reputation and honour of survivors, SIT chief and additional director general of police (ADGP) BK Singh on Monday said: “It is easy to trace people sharing these videos on messenger services, so action will be taken against such individuals.”
The state government is expected to soon issue an order directing the Karnataka Police to provide security to all survivors willing to lodge a complaint, officers said.
Prajwal Revanna is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate from the Hassan Lok Sabha seat, which went to polls on April 26 in the second phase of the ongoing general elections. Explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, had started making the rounds in pen drives in Hassan ahead of the polls, following which the Congress-led state government constituted the SIT to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP.
Preliminary investigations suggested that most of the at least 2,976 explicit videos allegedly involving the Hassan MP were shot from a mobile phone at Revanna’s residence in Bengaluru and Hassan after 2019, officers have said.
While rape and molestation cases have been registered against Prajwal, his father and JD(S) MLA from Holenarasipur HD Revanna has been arrested and remanded to police custody for kidnapping a woman allegedly sexually assaulted by the 33-year-old lawmaker.
The SIT has also enlisted the services of at least 10 professional women counsellors for reaching out to survivors and offering assistance. “It’s crucial to counsel the families since many are not aware of these videos and because of this, women are not coming forward. We have brought in counsellors to engage with both the victims and their families to persuade them to give statements,” stated another officer, also declining to be named.
Meanwhile, a Bengaluru court on Monday posted the hearing in a bail petition moved by HD Revanna to Tuesday. Advocate Pawan Sagar, Revanna’s counsel, moved the plea before special MP-MLA court judge Santosh Gajanana Bhatt, who reviewed the plea and posted the matter on Tuesday.
The Holenarasipur legislator, who was arrested by the SIT on Saturday, was produced before a Bengaluru court, which remanded him to police custody till May 8. The arrest came after the SIT rescued an abducted woman, also a survivor of sexual assault by Prajwal, from the farmhouse of Revanna’s aide in Mysuru.