(Trigger warning: Sexual abuse, violence against women. Reader discretion advised.)
Nearly a month after being on the run from the authorities, suspended Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna was arrested in the early hours of Friday, 31 May, at Bengaluru airport in connection with multiple allegations of sexual abuse.
The grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, Revanna had reportedly fled to Germany after purported videos of women being sexually abused started doing the rounds in Hassan last month.
Upon his return from Munich, the sitting MP from Hassan was taken into custody by Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) officials and subsequently handed over to the SIT, according to a report by news agency PTI.
Revanna was escorted out of the airport by women police personnel including a superintendent of police. He was produced before a special court and has been remanded to six days of SIT custody, as per reports.
A day earlier, the Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) moved to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna based on a request for the same by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah.
"I apologise to my parents... I was depressed. On Friday, 31 May, at 10 am I will appear before the SIT and provide all information related to the investigation. I will cooperate with the SIT. I have faith in the judiciary," Prajwal Revanna had said in what appeared to be a self-shot video.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court has reportedly issued an emergent notice to Prajwal's father, MLA HD Revanna, who is himself facing allegations of sexual harassment and kidnapping. He is currently out on bail.
What Is Prajwal Revanna Accused Of?
On Sunday, 28 April, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Holenarsipura police station based on a complaint by a 47-year-old woman, who accused Prajwal and his father, Holenarsipura MLA HD Revanna, of sexually harassing her and her daughter between January 2019 and January 2022.
The complainant, who claimed that she is a relative of HD Revanna's wife, was also employed as the domestic help at their house in Hassan.
In the FIR accessed by The Quint, she alleged:
"After four months of joining, Revanna kept calling me to his room. There were six women workers in the house and everyone said that they were scared when Prajwal Revanna came home. The male workers in the house also alerted the women workers to be careful... Whenever [HD] Revanna's wife wasn't there, he used to call the women to the store room and touch them while giving them fruits. He used to remove saree pins and used to sexually assault women."
A case has been registered under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The woman claimed in the FIR that she decided to file a complaint after she came across news reports of other women being sexually exploited. The woman also alleged that Prajwal Revanna had behaved inappropriately with her daughter during a video call.
"A case was registered after the victim gave her statement. The SIT has taken over the probe and will look into it," a senior official from the Hassan Police had told The Quint at the time.
Did Prajwal Revanna Evade Arrest?
Besides being an incumbent MP, Prajwal Revanna is also the joint BJP-JD(S) candidate from Hassan for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Just hours after the polling in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on 26 April, the 33-year-old reportedly fled to Germany on his diplomatic passport.
But Prajwal insisted that his trip abroad was pre-planned. "When the elections were held on 26 April, there was no case against me and no SIT was formed. My foreign trip was pre-planned. I got to know about the allegations when I was on my trip... Rahul Gandhi and many other Congress leaders started talking about it and a political conspiracy was hatched against me..." he said in a video.
However, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on 2 May that "no political clearance was either sought from or issued by the MEA" with respect to Prajwal's travel to Germany.
Diplomatic passports are issued to specific people of power within the Indian government. For people in the government not entitled to them, a visa note is issued.
"Obviously, no visa note was issued either. No visa is required for diplomatic passport holders to travel to Germany. The Ministry has not issued visa note for any other country," Jaiswal added.
He further said that the MEA couldn't cancel Prajwal's diplomatic passport – as per the Karnataka government's demand on 1 May – without a court order.
The Passports Act, 1967, states that the passport authority can revoke or impound the passport of a person:
if the holder is in wrongful possession of the passport
if the holder has been convicted by a court in India for any offence and is sentenced to not less than two years
if criminal proceedings against the holder are pending before a court in India
if a warrant for the arrest of the holder has been issued by a court
Following an arrest warrant issued by a court earlier this month, Interpol issued a blue-corner notice against Prajwal. A blue-corner notice is essentially issued to "collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation." This is different from a red-corner notice, which involves locating and arresting a fugitive.
If and when the diplomatic passport is cancelled, the holder will be considered illegal in whichever country they are in. They would have to return to the country – and to do so, they would have to approach the nearest embassy or consulate to get a travel document.
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