As HD Revanna walks out of jail amid celebrations, complainants fearful. ‘If anything happens to us…’

JD(S) leader HD Revanna, accused of kidnapping a woman allegedly raped by his MP son Prajwal, was released on bail Tuesday. Complainants, meanwhile, say their ordeal continues.

File photo of HD Revanna being taken into SIT custody in Bengaluru earlier this month | ANI

Bengaluru/Hassan: Former minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Revanna walked out of Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru Tuesday after around 10 days behind bars on charges of kidnapping, criminal intimidation, and other offenses. Party workers greeted the 66-year-old outside jail, even as celebrations erupted in the JD(S) bastion of Hassan about 180 km from Bengaluru. However, the women who accused Revanna and his son of harassment say their fears are being realised.

Revanna, among other charges, is accused of kidnapping a woman who was allegedly raped by his MP son, Prajwal Revanna. At least three women have lodged formal complaints so far. They allege that Prajwal raped them and even threatened to kill their families if they spoke of their ordeal.

“If anything happens to us, Prajwal and his family are to be held responsible,” a woman in her 20s, a complainant in the case, told ThePrint after hearing that Revanna had been granted bail.

After his release, the JD(S) leader went straight to his father and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s home—from where he was arrested on 4 May.

“I have immense faith in the judiciary,” he told reporters Tuesday. “For the last 11 days I have followed the court’s orders. I have faith in God that I will come out of these allegations.”

But not everyone in the family is celebrating the bail yet. HD Kumaraswamy, the state president of the JD(S) and Revanna’s younger brother, said he was “not happy” about the bail and asked his supporters to resist celebrating until the “actual culprits” are arrested and punished.

Hassan MP Prajwal, who is seeking re-election in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, has been accused of sexually exploiting several women over the last several years. Videos of his alleged crimes also surfaced days before the Lok Sabha election polling in Hassan on 26 April.

At least three women have stepped forward and filed formal complaints against Prajwal and his father. They are currently under the protection of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) established by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government to investigate the allegations.

Prajwal left the country shortly after the polling and is believed to be in Germany. Central agencies have issued a Blue-corner notice to locate him. Karnataka’s Home Minister, G Parameshwara, said Monday that Prajwal’s whereabouts will be communicated to Indian central agencies, but clarified that the SIT will not travel abroad to bring him back.

Addressing reporters Tuesday, Kumaraswamy questioned the government’s efforts in pursuing the case. “Our home minister says that there is no provision in the law for the state to get him (Prajwal) back. What is the meaning of this? If you really had concern to take this to the logical end, what efforts have you (government) put? Has any (state) minister gone to the Centre, discussed, taken assistance?” Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, Revanna, who was arrested for his suspected involvement in the kidnapping of a 55-year-old woman from her rural home in Mysuru, must comply with certain conditions while he’s out on bail. These include refraining from tampering with evidence and leaving the country. He has also been ordered to report to the SIT every second Sunday until the chargesheet is filed.

‘Threat calls continue’

Prajwal Revanna allegedly employed fear, intimidation, and violence to victimise multiple women over several years, leveraging his power and influence in Hassan district. Complainants who spoke with ThePrint claimed they were assaulted at his Bengaluru and Holenarasipura homes, as well as the MP quarters in Hassan city. Attempts to extricate themselves from the situation were met with punishment, they said.

The police complaints, too, contain harrowing details, with one of the complainants, a former JD(S) worker, even alleging that Prajwal threatened to rape her at gunpoint.

 Two women who have filed sexual assault complaints and the families of two others have spoken to ThePrint over the last two weeks.

One woman in her 20s alleged that both she and her mother were intimidated and sexually harassed by Revanna.

The woman said that her mother, employed as a domestic worker with the Revannas, was threatened into complying with Prajwal’s demands while she was “going about household work” at his Bengaluru home. He then also allegedly preyed on her, the daughter.

“During COVID lockdown, he once called me on video and asked me to strip naked. I refused. Then he told me that if I didn’t comply, he would kill my family,” the daughter told ThePrint. Out of fear, she said she complied.

Subsequently, the family tried to cut ties with the Revannas, but this allegedly came with consequences too.

“They threw us out of our home, got us beaten up by our own relatives, abused us, and now we are left with nothing,” the young woman alleged, sobbing over the phone.

She also claimed that she and her mother continue to receive threats from the Revanna family.

“We get calls on our phone from the family of Bhavani Revanna (HD Revanna’s wife), threatening us and asking us to withdraw the case. But we won’t,” she told ThePrint.

‘Sacrificed for politics’

The women Prajwal allegedly preyed upon were those he could exert power over. These included JD(S) workers, women employed at his house and farms, and even government officials, according to leaders who have worked with the family for years or have direct knowledge of the Revannas.

 Complainants and their families recount stories of how complicity and silence enabled their ordeals.

“All three political parties are involved (in the scandal). All politics is filth,” said one family member of a complainant. “To fulfill their own political ends, people like us have been sacrificed.”

A rape complainant from Mysuru, who was also allegedly kidnapped by HD Revanna, lives in a small village in a house that is quickly running out of rations. This is a family of daily-wage workers who say they go hungry if they don’t find work even for a single day.

“We work on a daily wage and all these days we didn’t work, there is no food,” said one of her family members.

Meanwhile, anger is growing in Holenarasipura over the alleged exploitation of vulnerable, marginalised women by powerful, forward-caste men.

Mahesh, a farmer from Holenarasipura, pointed out how the privileged castes practiced untouchability, but did not let this deter them from sexually exploiting Dalit women.

“When it comes to exploiting our women, then they forget that we’re Dalits,” he thundered in front of the Revanna house in Holenarasipura.

(Edited by Asavari Singh)