Prajwal Revanna, a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Janata Dal (Secular), is facing controversy following allegations of involvement in obscene videos. Karnataka police have registered a case against him after a woman, who worked as a house help at his residence, accused him of sexual harassment.
The 47-year-old woman has also implicated HD Revanna, the MLA of Holenarasipur and Prajwal’s father, as a suspect. The case has been filed at the Holenarasipur police station in Karnataka’s Hassan district.
Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and whose father, HD Revanna, is a former minister, is vying for reelection to the Lok Sabha from the Hassan constituency. The seat underwent polling during the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26. JD(S) is allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka.
Revanna filed a complaint on April 28, asserting that the viral videos are “morphed” and are being circulated to “tarnish his image and poison the minds of voters.”
It’s not unprecedented for politicians in India to face allegations of crimes against women, as the country has a track record of influential politicians being accused of sexual offenses.
According to a report by the election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in August 2023, a total of 134 sitting members of parliament (MP) and members of legislative assemblies (MLA) have cases related to crimes against women. Among them, 21 are MPs and 113 are MLAs. This data was derived from an analysis of 762 sitting MPs and 4,001 sitting MLAs.
Among parties, BJP had 44 lawmakers (MPs and MLAs) against whom cases of “crimes against women” have been registered. This included seven BJP MPs. The Congress had 25 followed by AAP with 13 sitting MPs or MLAs who have declared cases related to crimes against women.
Here are some prominent politicians who have been accused of sexual crimes in the past, before Prajwal Revanna.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the current Member of Parliament for Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh representing the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), is under scrutiny for allegations of sexual harassment. Six prominent female wrestlers provided testimony against him in a First Information Report (FIR). The accusations are related to Brij Bhushan’s tenure as President of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Last week, a Delhi Court rejected Singh’s request for additional investigation in the sexual harassment case. The court is set to announce its ruling on the charges against the BJP MP in the case on May 7.
In 2022, Karan Morwal, the son of former Badnagar Congress MLA Murli Morwal, was expelled by the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) for six years following rape charges filed against him. Karan was arrested in October 2021 after a woman lodged a rape complaint against him at the women’s police station in Indore. On March 6, 2024, Karan shared pictures of himself with Digvijay Singh and other Congress leaders.
Former BJP MLA from Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, has been found guilty of rape, murder, attempted murder, criminal conspiracy, and criminal intimidation. The case stems from June 4, 2017, when the woman, then 17 years old, was reportedly raped by Sengar. In August 2019, he was expelled from the BJP. On April 3, 2018, the victim’s father was purportedly implicated in an illegal arms case and subsequently detained. He passed away on April 9, 2018, while in judicial custody.
Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, who held the position of mining minister during the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, faced allegations in 2017 of gang-raping a woman over a span of three years. In 2021, Prajapati was handed a five-year jail term by the Allahabad High Court. Presently, Prajapati remains incarcerated.
Former Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar stepped down from his position on October 17, 2018, amidst an increasing number of sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him during the #MeToo movement. Akbar, a former journalist, had joined the BJP in March 2014. Before that, he had served as a Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar from 1989 to 1991.
Akbar was initially accused by journalist Priya Ramani, who had written about him in an article she authored for Vogue a year earlier, without explicitly mentioning his name, in October 2018.
BSP leader Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi was accused of raping a girl at his residence in Banda district in December 2010. Dwivedi, who served as a BSP MLA from Naraini in Banda, Uttar Pradesh from 2007 to 2012, faced an FIR ordered by the Uttar Pradesh government under Chief Minister Mayawati. He was later sentenced to jail in 2011 and held in Banda district jail, though he was granted bail in 2015.