Editorial: National shame

The victims of Prajwal’s perverse acts must get justice and their protection should be prioritised

The sex scandal involving the disgraced Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, is a matter of collective shame for the country. The impunity with which the politician from a powerful family inflicted horrific ordeals on several women in Karnataka’s Hasan district has evoked widespread outrage. The allegations of sexual exploitation, which surfaced in the midst of campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, have hit the State like a tsunami. The victims of Prajwal’s perverse acts must get justice. A strong message must be sent that the entire society is united to ensure exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of sexual violence, however influential they may be. The way the Special Investigating Team (SIT), formed by the Karnataka government to probe the charges, functions in the days ahead and how the courts and the political leadership handle this case will be closely watched. The alleged sexual exploitation of many women, captured in around 3,000 video clips that are being circulated on social media, has triggered a war of words between the ruling Congress in Karnataka and the BJP, which is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in the State in alliance with the JD(S). The sordid episode has come as a major embarrassment for the BJP with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that there should be ‘zero tolerance’ to such leaders. The scandal has left a deep scar on the reputation of the nonagenarian JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda.

While Prajwal fled the country soon after the scandal came to light, his father HD Revanna, Deve Gowda’s elder son and also a politician, was arrested by the police, on charges of molestation and abduction, after a former domestic help accused him of raping her when his wife was not at home. The SIT faces the challenge of conducting an independent and impartial investigation despite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s assurance that his government will not interfere in the probe. The Gowda family wields enormous influence in the region. It will not be easy to get the victims, identified from the video clips, to come forward to lodge complaints. Several women who were allegedly subjected to sexual abuse have left their homes in Hassan district, the stronghold of the Deve Gowda family. With their identities revealed on social media platforms, the aggrieved women are fleeing apparently due to social stigma and fear. Unfortunately, in our society, the victim of a sexual offence is treated worse than the perpetrator of the crime. The onus is on the State government to ensure that the victims muster the courage to give their statements and are not silenced or deterred by threats and coercion. Their protection should be prioritised in the pursuit of justice. The absconding MP, against whom a Blue Corner notice has been issued, must be made to face the law.

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