Karnataka HC rejects Prajwal Revanna’s plea to suspend life sentence

The Karnataka high court dismissed the plea of Revanna, former member of Parliament (MP) from Hassan, citing the “gravity of the offence.”

Bengaluru: The Karnataka high court on Wednesday rejected a plea by former Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)] MP Prajwal Revanna to suspend the life sentence imposed on him by a Bengaluru court earlier this year in a rape case, pending the disposal of his appeal against the conviction.

Revanna, former MP from Hassan, Karnataka, accused of raping a 48-year-old employee hired as a labourer by his family on a salary of ₹10,000 and a bag of rice a month (PTI Photo)

Revanna, the former member of Parliament (MP) from Hassan, Karnataka, accused of raping a 48-year-old employee hired as a labourer by his family on a salary of ₹10,000 and a bag of rice a month, had sought suspension of his sentence or interim bail pending disposal of the appeal. The high court, however, dismissed the plea citing the “gravity of the offence.”

A division bench of justices KS Mudagal and Venkatesh Naik passed the order while hearing Revanna’s appeal challenging the judgment of a special court that found him guilty of repeatedly raping a domestic worker and sentenced him to life imprisonment in August this year.

“Weighing the material on record, gravity of offence, and effect on other cases (Revanna is facing charges of rape and sexual assault in three other FIRs), this court is of considered opinion that this is not fit case for granting suspension of sentence or bail. Application is rejected,” the high court said.

The bench added that the legal standard for granting interim bail to an undertrial was “distinct” from suspending a sentence post-conviction. Once a conviction is recorded, the presumption of innocence no longer operates in favour of the accused, it said.

Special public prosecutor Ravi Varma Kumar, who appeared for the State, said that Revanna faces several other criminal cases involving similar allegations of rape or sexual abuse, and that earlier bail pleas in those matters were rejected after considering the comparatively weaker socio-economic backgrounds of the survivors. Suspending his sentence at this stage, Kumar argued, could risk witness tampering and influence the evidence in ongoing cases.

Revanna’s counsel, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, had earlier urged the Court to consider that the pending trials may take years to conclude and that keeping him incarcerated until then would be unfair. The High Court had said at the time that Revanna was free to seek an expedited hearing in those cases if he wished to.

Revanna, the son of former minister HD Revanna and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, was arrested in May 2024 from the Bengaluru airport. He was convicted and sentenced to a life term in the first of the four cases of rape and sexual assault against him. The three other cases filed against him in 2024 are still pending trial.

Revanna has maintained that the cases against him were politically motivated.