Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
04-08-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: A court in southern India has sentenced a prominent politician in the state of Karnataka to life in prison after being found guilty of raping one of his domestic staff.
The sentencing of Prajwal Revanna, who is from an influential political family in the state, took place on Saturday, a day after he was convicted of sexually assaulting his former employee.
The allegations against the 34-year-old former Indian MP first came to light in 2023 after hundreds of explicit videos featuring him started circulating on social media, causing outrage across the country.
Revanna had denied the charges. On Friday, he broke down and pleaded for a lesser punishment when he was found guilty.
He can appeal against the sentence.
Revanna is a grandson of former Indian Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda, whose Janata Dal (Secular) party is allied with current Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.
It is rare that a person with such an influential political background gets punished in a case like this in India.
Revanna left India in April 2024 using his diplomatic passport after hundreds of videos of alleged abuse began circulating in his state.
At the time, Revanna did not comment on the videos, but an official from his office said the videos had been doctored.
He was arrested a month later after arriving back home from Germany.
He is still facing two other rape cases and one case of sexual harassment. He denies the charges.
Last year, police in India have arrested a lawmaker who fled the country after being accused of sexually abusing several women.
Prajwal Revanna, who left India on 27 April, was arrested on his arrival from Germany in the southern city of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) early on Friday.
Revanna has denied all the allegations against him.
The 33-year-old MP belongs to the Janata Dal (Secular) party, which is an ally of PM Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Revanna, who belongs to an influential political family, is seeking re-election from the Hassan constituency in the southern state of Karnataka but shortly before voting in Hassan, thousands of USB sticks with videos of the MP allegedly abusing women circulated in Karnataka, sparking outrage.
Revanna did not comment on the videos but an official from his office said that the videos had been doctored.
He fled the country shortly after voting ended in his constituency.
Reports say the police have registered three cases of sexual assault against the MP so far.
A special police team set up by Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah is investigating the cases.
On 18 May, a special court had issued an arrest warrant against Revanna, following an application moved by the special investigation team (SIT).
Days before he was arrested, Revanna had applied for anticipatory bail but a court on Thursday rejected his plea.
After remaining missing for several weeks, Revanna had released a video on 27 May in which he said that he would appear before the SIT on Friday.
The video came out shortly after his grandfather, former Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, asked him to return to India and face the investigation.
