Supreme Court upholds anticipatory bail to Bhavani Revanna in kidnapping case

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the anticipatory bail granted to Bhavani Revanna in a kidnapping case linked to sexual abuse allegations against her son and suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna. [State of Karnataka v Bhavani Revanna].

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan rejected the Karnataka government's appeal against an order of the Karnataka High Court granting her pre arrest bail.

The Supreme Court had in July issued notice on the plea by the Karnataka government.

The State challenged the same before the top court.

The Bench had earlier urged the parties not to politicise the matter.

Bhavani Revanna is accused of being involved in kidnapping a woman who was sexually assaulted by Prajwal Revanna. This was allegedly done to prevent the woman from filing a complaint.

Prajwal Revanna is presently under arrest in connection with allegations that he sexually assaulted several women and captured visuals of the assault.

In April this year, visuals of the assault, captured in over 2,900 videos, surfaced after pen drives of the same were left in several public places in Karnataka. Prajwal Revanna is reported to have fled to Germany, but returned to India on May 31 and was arrested upon his return.

Both of Prajwal Revanna's parents, HD Revanna and Bhavani Revanna, meanwhile, faced allegations that they kidnapped a woman who was assaulted by Prajwal Revanna.

On a related note, a bail plea filed by Prajwal Revanna is presently pending before the Karnataka High Court.

A plea filed by the Special Investigating Team (SIT), which is probing the case, to cancel the bail granted to HD Revanna is also pending before the High Court.