Karnataka High Court reserves verdict on Yediyurappa's plea to quash POCSO case

The case was filed based on allegations by a woman who claimed that Yediyurappa had sexually assaulted her 17-year-old daughter during a meeting at his residence in Bengaluru in February 2024.

Bengaluru: The high court on Friday reserved its judgement in the petition filed by former chief minister B S Yediyurappa challenging the case registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Justice M Nagaprasanna reserved the verdict after hearing senior advocate C V Nagesh for Yediyurappa, Prof Ravivarma Kumar for the prosecution and S Balan who represented the victim’s brother.

The prosecution case is that Yediyurappa sexually harassed the 17-year-old girl on February 2, 2024, when she and her mother had gone to his house seeking help in another case under the Pocso Act. Incidentally, the girl’s mother, who was the complainant in the case, died of cancer on May 26, 2024.

Nagesh submitted that the victim and her mother had come to Yediyurappa’s house on February 2, 2024, in connection with another case under the Pocso Act. Yediyurappa had asked them to approach the Bengaluru police commissioner and they met the commissioner the same day. The girl and her mother visited Yediyurappa again on February 5, 2024, and February 20, 2024. Yediyurappa had contacted the police commissioner to enquire about action regarding their grievance. The complainant did not make any allegations against Yediyurappa before the police commissioner, Nagesh stated.

The senior advocate said that while on both occasions the girl and her mother took photographs on their mobile phones, on the second visit, they may have clandestinely recorded the conversation.

“Their conduct of waiting for one-and-a-half months to file a complaint, coupled with other evidence, including 56 complaints filed by the very complainant against various persons and authorities, will have to be considered,” he said.

Nagesh further argued that even under the Pocso Act, the reverse burden on the accused to prove innocence is not absolute.