Why HD Revanna withdrew his anticipatory bail plea in sexual abuse case

Janata Dal (Secular) leader and Karnataka Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) HD Revanna on Friday withdrew his anticipatory bail petition in the sexual abuse case involving his son and Hassan Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Prajwal Revanna..Revanna withdrew his plea after Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) BN Jagadeesha told the special court that the rape charge under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code has not been invoked against HD Revanna. It was also submitted that no non-bailable offences have been invoked against him at present.The SPP earlier objected to the maintainability of the anticipatory bail petition and informed the Court that only a notice under Section 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) had been issued to HD Revanna..The Court on Thursday had issued notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the matter and listed the matter for hearing today.After considering the submissions of the prosecution today, Senior Advocate Murthy D Naik, representing Revanna, sought permission to withdraw the plea with the liberty to file a fresh one if required.The Court permitted the withdrawal..According to media reports, Revanna has been booked in a fresh case related to the alleged kidnapping of one the victims of his son Prajwal Revanna. The sexual abuse allegations against Prajwal Revanna had emerged after over 2,900 videos depicting the sexual assault of several women were circulated on social media..On April 28, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Prajwal Revanna and his father 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. The SIT led by senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer BK Singh is probing the case and has summoned Revanna. Amid the outrage and political storm that followed, Revanna is said to have fled to Germany soon after the April 26 polls. However, in his first communication since the sexual assault allegations emerged, Prajwal Revanna on Wednesday tweeted that he was "not in Bangalore" and sought more time to appear before the SIT.