POCSO case against Yediyurappa must not be quashed: K'ntka tells HC

New Delhi: The Karnataka government requested the Karnataka High Court not quash the FIR filed against BJP leader and former chief minister of the state, BS Yediyurappa, charging with a POCSO case. The government demanded that the case should proceed to trial, The Wire reported.

The government’s representative in the court, Special Public Prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar, told the court that the forensic reports confirm the authenticity of video footage that showed the minor survivor’s mother confronting Yediyurappa about the alleged incident. Kumar also added that forensics confirmed that the voice in the video also matches Yediyurappa’s voice.

The government’s counsel furthered that the POCO Act presume that the accused is guilty until proven otherwise. Though the former minister appeared before the investigating officials, he was not subjected to custodial interrogation.

The case against Yediyurappa is connected to an alleged incident in February 2024 when the 17-year-old survivor was allegedly sexually assaulted by him. A complaint was registered under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The minor’s mother registered the case with the Sadashivanagar police station on March 14. The case was later handed over to the Criminal Investigation Agency (CID), which filed a chargesheet in June 2024.

All this time, Yediyurappa denied the allegations, claiming that such an incident had never occurred. The High Court had said on December 18 that it could not quash the case against him solely because of the statements of witnesses who disagreed with the victim’s version of the alleged incident.