The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) expresses its anger and disgust against the revelations made about a sitting MP and a candidate in the Lok Sabha poll from Hassan, Karnataka, Prajwal Revanna who is the grandson of H. D. Deve Gowda and leader of the JD(S) which is an ally of the BJP.
The Karnataka Government has filed an FIR against him and constituted an SIT to enquire into the serious accusations of sexual harassment that he faces. There had been talk of his misdemeanors earlier too but he had been given relief by the High Court. In the run-up to his bid for re-election as an NDA candidate, a few days before voting took place on 26th April, pen-drives containing thousands of objectionable videos and photographs had started circulating. Some of these had been made by Prajwal Revanna himself in order to blackmail women into acceding to his sexual demands.
One of these women filed a complaint against him and his father, H. D. Revanna, JD(S) MLA, accusing them of repeated sexual harassment. She is working in their home as a domestic help along with 5 other women. According to her complaint, all of them face this kind of harassment regularly.
The Karnataka Government took action immediately and Prajwal Revanna left the country for Germany on the 28th morning.
Even more shocking revelations are now in the public domain. As far back as December 23, a BJP leader, Devaraje Gowda, had written a letter to the State party President telling him that he ‘was in possession of a pen drive containing nearly 3,000 videos’ which were extremely obscene. He said that forming an alliance with the JD(S) and supporting Prajwal Revanna’s candidature would be a blow to the party nationally. It is shocking that despite this the BJP whole-heartedly supported his candidature and has not said one word in condemnation of his atrocious, criminal acts.
This is in tune with the support that other sexual offenders in their Party have received from them. It is also extremely disturbing that the National Commission for Women has not intervened in this matter. The mainstream media has also been quite muted.
The AIDWA demands that the Karnataka Government bring Prajwal Revanna back to the State and proceed against him and his father to ensure that they are given the most stringent punishment in the shortest time possible.
Sexual offenders continuing to occupy positions of power and being given tickets to contest by major political parties is a great blow to the struggle for women's right to security. This latest case from Karnataka is one more chapter in this sordid tale.
