The Karnataka High Court on Friday stayed former chief minister and senior BJP leader BS Yediyurappa’s decision to withdraw the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (Pocso) case against him.
Justice M Nagaprasanna reserved judgment after hearing the final arguments.
A woman has filed a complaint against Yediyurappa, accusing him of sexually assaulting her daughter, a minor, when they visited his home in February last year to seek help in connection with a previous sexual assault case. The plaintiff died of cancer in May 2024.
A chargesheet in the case was filed in July 2024. The Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department had also filed chargesheets against Yediyurappa on June 27 under the Pocso Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code related to sexual harassment, destruction of evidence, and giving gifts to silence the victim.
During arguments in the case on Wednesday, Special Public Prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar said on behalf of the special investigation team that under the Pocso Act, there is a legal presumption of guilt that should be dropped in the case. Other points raised by the prosecution included the purported recording of the interview of the victim and the complainant with Yediyurappa later, and the fact that almost a year had passed (an earlier order of the Karnataka High Court in 2021 mandated that Pocso trials be completed in one year).
On Friday, in consideration of the case, Yediyurappa’s lawyer, advocate CV Nagesh, argued, “The question will be raised at what stage…. .”. He further said that the consideration of the case will not be complete and will be effective when the case is tried. Yediyurappa’s counsel also questioned the application of logic at the stage of taking notice of the FIR.
Although he did not know the authenticity of the voice recording that the prosecutor mentioned in the previous case – allegedly secretly recorded by the young child when he and his mother went back to talk to Yediyurappa after the incident – the lawyer said that Yediyurappa was talking about the child. that he was looking at the details of the previous case, revealing that the victim and the complainant came to him seeking help for a previous case of rape where the victim was beaten. several years earlier.
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