iNDICA NEWS BUREAU–
Amid the controversy over the obscene video case linked to Janata Dal (Secular) sitting MP and candidate from Hassan parliamentary constituency in Karnataka, Prajwal Revanna, his uncle and party leader, HD Kumaraswamy, said on Monday that the party has already decided to suspend Revanna, and a final decision regarding the same will be taken after a core committee meeting on Tuesday. Revanna is the grandson of former Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had shared a stage with BJP’s alliance partner Janata Dal’s (Secular) heavyweights in April, and had canvassed for votes for Revanna, who has not appeared in public since the videos emerged on social media. Opposition leaders have alleged that he has left the country to evade arrest.
“I have said yesterday itself after I saw the issue in the media. The Congress is doing all kinds of conspiracy to make it big. We have already decided. Tomorrow, in the core committee meeting, it will be finally decided. Since he is an MP it must be done from Delhi. I didn’t know the issue. After we came to know, we decided yesterday itself, to suspend Prajwal Revanna,” Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy said that if it is found that Revanna is guilty, there is no question of shielding him.
“Some people are in a hurry. It is not a question of suspension. The case has already been given to the SIT, which has its limitations… If Prajwal Revanna’s videos are clear, as of now no complaints have been lodged against him. As I have already told whoever commits mistakes, has to face the consequences. In Prajwal Revanna case, if mistakes were made, there is no question of compromise, no matter what it may be. The law must take its own course,” the former Karnataka Chief Minister said.
“Whenever poor people came to us for help, we helped them. We have always lived like that. Devegowda and I have helped lakhs of families,” Kumaraswamy said.
Questioning the timing of this incident, Kumaraswamy said, “Why were all these pen drives released just three days before the election? Everything must be investigated and everything must be revealed.”
Kumaraswamy also stressed that it must be revealed who circulated the pen drives and punished under the law since the action led to a blow to the dignity of women.
“Whoever created these things must be revealed, whoever committed mistakes must be punished and whoever created and released those pendrive to destroy the dignity of the women should also be punished in the premises of the law,” he said.
Distancing his family from those of Revanna’s, the former Chief Minister said, “It’s not the issue of the Revanna family. There are no ties between us, we are already divided and living separately. We have separate businesses. We come together only for party work. Some congress workers protested in front of my home. What relationship do I have with them? What is the relation of the Devegowda family with an act committed by a grown kid? Can we follow them every time?”
Prajwal Revanna was booked in a sexual harassment case on Sunday following complaints by his former house help.
An FIR has been filed against Prajwal Revanna, his father and JD (S) leader, HD Revanna, in connection with the case. The case has been registered under sections 354A, 354D, 506, and 509 of the IPC on charges of sexual harassment, intimidation, and outraging the dignity of a woman.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said on Monday that he is the same person with whom PM Modi shared the stage and asked for votes. “A big thing has happened in Karnataka, a person who shared the stage with PM Modi and for whom he asked votes, he (Prajwal Revanna) sexually assaulted 1000s of women. I want to ask what PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have to say on this,” she said.
Sharpening her attacks on the ruling party, Priyanka Gandhi said, How can it be possible that one has committed such a big crime and ran away from the country?
“Some time ago, I went to meet my daughter for three days. PM and the Home Minister said that I went abroad. They get to know when opposition leaders go somewhere but when such monsters leave the country they don’t get to know. How can we believe this? They have information about everyone, but somebody committed such a big crime and ran away from the country right from under their nose and they are doing nothing?” she added.
The Chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Women, Nagalakshmi Choudhary, stated that the ‘obscene videos’ case involving JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna is the biggest scandal of the country.
She said that the pen drive she received contained hundreds of explicit videos, some of which purportedly show Prajwal Revanna.
“I wrote to CM and SIT was constituted. The pen drive that I have received has hundreds of videos. In a few videos, it is visible that the person is Prajwal Revanna. I will be writing this to the National Women’s Commission. I mean, it’s the biggest scandal in India,” Choudhary said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday said that it is a “shame” that the National Commission for Women (NCW) has maintained “silence” over the alleged “obscene videos” case linked to JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna.
Speaking to ANI, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he would respond to this issue as the PM was in Karnataka today.
“I would want to know that PM Modi is in Karnataka today, is he going to speak about this? PM Modi spoke about Mangalsutra, daughters and mothers, but will he talk about them today?…It is a shame that the NCW chairperson, who should be practicing equal justice for all, continues to maintain her silence. It’s a shame that we have a Women and Child Welfare minister who has only chosen selective silence to attack those who are in the opposition rather than speak up truly for the cause of women. It is shameful,” Chaturvedi said.
She further said that justice should be done to the women who were exploited.
“I would want everybody who helped the person escape to France to be punished and he should be brought back from France. I’m hoping that justice will be done to the women who were exploited,” she added.
