Prajwal Revanna moves Karnataka High Court for copies of digital evidence in rape cases

Suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna, accused in at least four separate cases of rape, sexual assault and criminal intimidation, has approached the Karnataka High Court seeking copies of all digital evidence collected against him by the State Special Investigation Team (SIT)..His plea was heard briefly on Thursday by a single-judge Justice M Nagaprasanna, who said that while Revanna was entitled to receive copies of evidence pertaining to his cases alone, the Court will not permit anything that might reveal the identities of victims other than the complainant in the case before the trial court.The judge made the comment after Additional Special Public Prosecutor BN Jagadeesha told the Court that Revanna’s petition was a tactic to delay the trial in the case..Jagadessha said that the prosecution had already provided copies of the images and videos that pertained to the four cases against Revanna. However, he had now asked for copies of over 15,000 images and 2,000 videos recovered from the Samsung phone that allegedly belonged to his driver.Most of these images and videos contain details of other victims in the case and providing such copies will not only take time but also end up revealing their identity before the trial court, Jagadeesha told the Court.The Court then directed the SIT to provide anything relevant to Revanna’s case that is yet to be given to him, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgement in the case of P Gopalakrishnan vs the State of Kerala..“Under 207, you will have to give him copies under Section 207. Give only whatever is relevant for his case. We will not permit anyone to reveal the identity of others (victims) or endanger them in any way,” the Court said.It said it will hear further arguments in the case on January 16..Revanna’s counsel then told the Court that the trial court had scheduled the framing of charges in his case on January 13.Justice Nagaprasanna then said that while the trial court can go ahead with the scheduled hearing, it must refrain from framing of charges until Revanna’s present plea is heard by the High Court..Revanna, the son of former minister HD Revanna and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, is facing charges of rape and sexual abuse and has four cases registered against him based on different complaints.On August 24 this year, the SIT, which is investigating four cases of sexual assault and harassment against Revanna, filed a 2,144 page-long chargesheet, the first in the four cases, before the special court which hears cases relating to MPs/MLAs.