The political firestorm surrounding Prajwal Revanna engulfed the entire electoral landscape of Karnataka, and finally, after several days of the sexual harassment allegations, he broke his silence.
Revanna, the sitting member (now suspended) of parliament from Hassan in Karnataka, took to Facebook, “As I am not in Bangalore to attend the inquiry, I have communicated to CID Bangalore through my advocate.
The truth will prevail soon.” Revanna, the BJP-JD (S) alliance Lok Sabha candidate is facing a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe after he, along with his father HD Revanna, were booked by the police on Sunday on charges of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation based on a complaint from a woman–their former household help.
However, his statement in the wake of the ugly sexual harassment allegations raises more questions than any answers. The questions span over the entire system ensuring an easy escape for Revanna.
The ‘absconding’ MP left the country as soon as the polls to his constituency ended. At the time, he is believed to be in Germany, while nearly 3000 explicit video clips allegedly involving him sexually abusing several women have gone viral.
He contested as the coalition's candidate from the constituency again when it went to vote on April 26 during the second phase of the current general elections.
Gag orders before going absconding?
On April 30, the Janata Dal (Secular) top leadership suspended the MP, but how did he manage to escape abroad via a valid diplomatic visa?
Was the administration accomplice? As the Congress-led state government and social media seek answers, the case primarily highlights the culture of gag orders. Reportedly, Revanna had obtained a gag order against as many as 86 media outlets and three journalists/individuals from speaking up on these videos, some of which date back to June 2023.
Did the gag order act as a setback in the current case? The court had issued a gag order because “there is a threat of broadcasting, publishing, and circulating such fake news, morphed photographs/video against Revanna.”
Passed on by courts (under Order 39 rules 1 and 2 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908) usually against media houses and journalists, gag orders are an order issued to an organisation asking it not to discuss/publish a certain topic to protect the rights of the person filing the suit.
Passed before a lawsuit goes to trial, such orders usually look into evidence of whether publication of any material will hamper the fair trial of the person involved. However, this also means that the law can be misused to hamper free speech and public awareness.
Karnataka, the gag order capital of the nation?
If statistics are anything to go by, Bengaluru courts lead the way in issuing gag orders. In March 2023, the Bengaluru City Civil Court restrained as many as 46 media houses from reporting on or giving any coverage of defamatory kind against BJP legislator Madal Virupakshappa and his son Prashanth Kumar, who had been accused of taking bribes.
Sitting Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also obtained a gag order against the release of a book which allegedly contained defamatory passages about him. The court ordered the publishers not to release, publish, sell or display the contents of the book via any platform.
While gag orders have always been the recourse of politicians, the cases were few and far between. Perhaps, the mainstream trend among politicians can be credited to BJP MP and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who obtained a gag order back in 2017 and managed to be the first politician to get two published articles about him pulled down from the web.
Ever since then, the courts have seen an exponential rise in the gar order cases.
Meanwhile, Revanna has not just denied all allegations but also filed a counter-complaint claiming the videos are ‘doctored.’ Meanwhile, there is no immediate statement available from SIT on Prajwal’s request to show up after a week for the investigations.
Now the sexual harassment scandal will most likely affect the remainder of Karnataka’s election on May 7, when 14 of the state’s constituencies go to polls.
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