[Ramesh Jarkiholi Sex Tape] "She is a major, Court does not have much say:" Karnataka HC disposes of Habeas plea after WhatsApp call with victim

The Karnataka High Court on Monday declined to pass any order on a Habeas Corpus petition filed by the father of the victim in the alleged sex CD case, involving former Karnataka minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi, noting that the victim in a major and capable of making her own decisions. .The father of the victim had approached the High Court claiming that his daughter had been unlawfully detained at an undisclosed location and that he has reasons to doubt the complicity of the second respondent, Special Investigating Team (SIT)..After interacting with the victim, a division bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Pradeep Singh Yerur, in its order, observed that the version canvassed in the petition of forcible detention is not true. "The story emerging from the petition as to forcible detention is not true and that the version asserted by the respondents that petitioner's daughter is voluntarily residing incognito is true," the Court noted. The Court was further told by the victim that she does not want to interact with the anyone including her parents till the "dust settles down". "Since, X is an engineering graduate and obviously is major by age; she appears to have worldly knowledge, enough to decide where to reside and with whom to interact; this Court, therefore, has not much say in the matter, whatever be the submission made on behalf of the petitioner-parent," the Court noted in its order. .Advocate Kiran Jawali along with advocate P Prasanna Kumar, who appeared for SIT, contended that the allegations against their clients are unsubstantiated and that there is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the same. Further, it was submitted that SIT personnel visited residence of the so called 'detenue' on May 29, 2021 and their interaction with her prima facie showed that she has been residing in the said place on her volition and that she chose to be incommunicado as regards her parents, for her own discrete reasons.These submissions were vehemently denied by the parents with the father expressing apprehensions about the safety of his daughter. This prompted the court to direct the Registrar General to immediately visit the residence of the detenue and make her speak to the Court over Whatsapp Video Call.The Registrar General TG Shivashankare Gowda accompanied by Joint Registrar KS Varalakshmi, visited the residence of the 'detenue' and had an interaction with her and they also organised an interaction via video conferencing between her and the court.The Court then proceeded to pass the order disposing of the petition. The court clarified that "disposal of this writ petition shall not come in the way of Miss X, seeking from the State and its instrumentalities, security of life and protection of property, if need be. In the above circumstances, we are of the considered view that no relief need be granted in this petition and accordingly the petition is disposed of, costs having been made easy."[Read Order]