JD(S) women’s wing silent, but women leaders of party, BJP say Prajwal Revanna should face the law

The women leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) and its ally BJP want Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna to be punished under the law for the sexual assault allegations agianst him.

Three weeks after the charges surfaced against the Hassan MP, who is re-contesting from the seat as a JD(S) candidate, The Indian Express spoke to several women leaders of the two parties, who unequivocally condemned his alleged actions and asked for “stringent punishment”.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) is currently probing the case against Prajwal, whoflew abroad a day after voting in his constituency and just before the controversy broke. There is an Interpol Blue Corner notice against Prajwal, with his whereabouts yet to be ascertained.

Among those who supported legal action against Prajwal were JD(S) MLAs Karemma and Sharada Poorya Naik, while pointing out that the party had already suspended him pending the findings of the SIT probe. “As a woman leader, I cannot but condemn the case,” Karemma said. Naik said she was “shocked” when she first came across the videos purportedly of Prajwal sexually assaulting several women. “Let’s see how the probe goes,” she said.

Leaders of the BJP also said the women who were allegedly assaulted should “get justice”. “From what I understand, there were women who were assaulted and the law should serve them. The most stringent punishment should be given to the culprit,” BJP MLA Jolle Annasaheb Shashikala said. Asked about the issue, BJP sitting MP Shobha Karandlaje, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections, said: “The law will take its course.”

Incidentally, the JD(S) women’s wing has maintained silence in the case. When asked, Prabhavathi Jayaram, a senior leader of the JD(S) women’s wing, said she had “no