Karnataka High Court says order granting bail to HD Revanna in kidnapping case appears to have errors

The Karnataka High Court on Friday orally observed that the trial court order granting bail to Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Revanna in connection with the kidnapping case filed against him appeared to be defective in its interpretation of a legal provision. .Having taken note of this apparent defect, Justice Krishna S Dixit has issued emergent notice for HD Revanna's response to a bail cancellation petition.The bail cancellation plea has been filed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the State to probe the kidnapping and sexual abuse allegations against HD Revanna and his son, Prajwal Revanna. The Court today posted the bail cancellation case for hearing as soon as the service of notice to HD Revanna is complete. .HD Revanna faces two criminal cases, one involving allegations of sexual assault and the other involving allegations of kidnapping. He was granted bail in both cases earlier this month. This grant of bail has been challenged by the SIT before the High Court..Representing the SIT, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) and Senior Advocate Prof Ravivarma Kumar argued today that the question was whether the trial court's order granting bail was perverse. He added that the trial court had erred in the application of Section 364A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Indian Penal Code. The judge found some force in the argument, after perusing the trial court's bail order. "This appears to be defective. There appears to be error apparent on the face of record," Justice Dixit said..Kumar proceeded to urge the High Court to list the matter on priority, preferably next week. "There is an urgency. A witness was kidnapped. To prevent her from filing a complaint, she was kidnapped," he argued. He added that if such actions are allowed, no one would be able to file criminal complaints. .The Court proceeded to list the matter on priority, even as brief objections were raised by the opposing counsel. "Issue emergent notice to the respondent since an arguable case is made out by pointing out a kind of interpretation by learned judge of court below on Section 364A IPC...Post immediately after service of notice," the Court ordered. .Notably, HD Revanna has also moved the High Court with two petitions to quash the first information reports (FIR) filed against him.The plea challenging the FIR against Revanna in the abduction case was heard today by Justice Dixit. Representing Revanna, advocate CV Nagesh contended that Section 364A of the IPC cannot be invoked against the JD (S) leader, even if the allegations in the complaint were taken at face value. He argued that it is not enough to allege that an abduction has been carried out for this provision to be cited. An allegation that a demand or a threat was issued should also be part of the criminal complaint for Section 364A, IPC to be invoked, he said. No such allegation is part of the complaint, he added. The allegation of Revanna having abducted a woman was also denied. "According to the prosecution, she was my servant for over 10 years. I did not kidnap her. If I had asked her to come, she would have come," Nagesh contended. Justice Dixit has listed this case for further hearing on June 3, Monday, subject to the orders of the Chief Justice. .The case against HD Revanna is linked to sexual abuse allegations against his son and suspended JD (S) leader, Prajwal Revanna.The sexual abuse allegations against Prajwal Revanna emerged after over 2,900 videos depicting the sexual assault of several women were circulated at various places, including social media.On April 28, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Prajwal Revanna and HD Revanna under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (insult to modesty of woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Holenaraseepur town police station, Hassan district. The criminal case was registered on a complaint filed by one of the victims. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer BK Singh is probing the case. Amid the outrage and political storm that followed, Prajwal Revanna fled to Germany soon after the April 26 Lok Sabha polls in the State. He is reported to have returned to India during the early hours of May 31 and was arrested upon his arrival. .Note: This article has been revised after its publication to add an update regarding the hearing in the petition filed by HD Revanna.