What Supreme Court said while issuing notice on State's plea to cancel Bhavani Revanna bail

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice on a plea by the Karnataka government challenging the grant of anticipatory bail to Bhavani Revanna in a kidnapping case linked to sexual abuse allegations against her son and suspended JD (S) leader, Prajwal Revanna [State of Karnataka v Bhavani Revanna]..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan nevertheless asked whether there was any ground to cancel the bail granted to Bhavani Revanna."Does it amount to a case for cancelling bail?" the Court queried. The Court eventually issued notice on the plea but urged the parties not to politicise the matter.The top court added that it was only concerned with whether the High Court was right to protect Bhavani Revanna from arrest."Law will have its own consequences. It is not like she is discharged. She will face trial. We only have to see if High Court was justified in protecting her from arrest ... Let us not politicise the matter," the Court said. .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. Last month, the Karnataka High Court granted conditional anticipatory bail to Bhavani Revanna after opining that she has been cooperating with the probe. In the said order, the High Court also observed that unnecessary arrests of women should be avoided, more so since in India, they are the epicenters of the family. This order has been challenged by the Karnataka government before the Supreme Court by way of an appeal filed through Advocate VN Raghupathy..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal represented the State government today."This is most unfortunate. High Court did not at all consider why the trial court rejected anticipatory bail ... It is a case of clear threat. She kept the witness in captivity, my lords," he argued. The Bench said that while charges are serious, Bhavani revanna can face trial and asked whether there was any ground to cancel the bail."Charges are serious, yes. But in a case of allegations of this kind, what will be the role of a mother for the crime by her son?" Justice Kant asked."We are not on the role of mother qua crime (by her son), but about kidnapping. She (kidnapped victim) was in captivity and paid to give statements ... It is said, Bhavani akka was there that day, (that she) abused witness in anger," Sibal replied.The Court eventually proceeded to issue notice in the matter and adjourned the hearing. .On a related note, a bail plea filed by Prajwal Revanna is presently pending before the Karnataka High Court, which issued notice in the matter last week. 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.