Prajwal Revanna suffers setback as Karnataka HC declines to halt rape-case sentence

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by former JD(S) legislator Prajwal Revanna seeking a suspension of his jail sentence in a rape case, pending the High Court’s decision on his appeal against the trial court’s conviction, Bar and Bench reported.

Earlier in September 2025, former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna has approached the Karnataka High Court appealing against his conviction in a rape case.

A special court that convicted Prajwal Revanna last month had sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life and imposed fines, in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases against him.

The Special Court for MPs/MLAs, Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat, who sentenced the convicted politician under various sections of the IPC on August 2, had imposed a total fine of ₹11.50 lakh on him, and had said ₹11.25 lakh from this fine amount will be paid to the victim.

Revanna, who was arrested in May last year after returning from Germany, is contesting the verdict on several grounds, including what he claims are contradictions in the survivor's testimony and inconsistencies in the evidence produced by the prosecution.

The case in which Prajwalb Revanna has been sentenced pertains to the one involving 48-year-old woman who was working as a help at the family's Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district's Holenarasipura. She was allegedly raped twice -- at Hassan farm house and Bengaluru residence-- in 2021 and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phone.

The allegations against the 34-year-old former Indian MP first came to light in 2023 after hundreds of explicit videos featuring him started circulating on social media, causing outrage across the country.

Revanna had denied the charges.

Prajwal Revanna is a grandson of former Indian Prime Minister, H D Deve Gowda, whose Janata Dal (Secular) party is allied with current Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP.

Prajwal Revanna had left India in April 2024 using his diplomatic passport after hundreds of videos of alleged abuse began circulating in his state.

At the time, Revanna did not comment on the videos, but an official from his office said the videos had been doctored.

He was arrested a month later after arriving back home from Germany.