A Bengaluru court on Monday discharged Janata Dal (Secular) MLA HD Revanna from a sexual harassment case registered against him under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The order was passed by XLII Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate KN Shivakumar, who declined to condone the four-year delay in filing the complaint.

The court held that it was not a fit case to invoke Section 473 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows courts to take cognizance of an offence after the limitation period if the delay is properly explained. Since Section 354A IPC carries a maximum punishment of three years, the limitation period under Section 468 CrPC is three years. As the delay was not satisfactorily explained, the court refused to take cognizance and discharged Revanna from the said offence.

Earlier, while hearing Revanna’s plea to quash the proceedings, the Karnataka High Court had remanded the matter to the trial court to specifically consider whether the delay in lodging the complaint could be condoned. The High Court had observed that the trial court must examine the applicability of Section 473 CrPC in light of the limitation bar.

The case stems from allegations that surfaced after over 2,900 videos allegedly depicting sexual abuse of multiple women were circulated on social media. On April 28, an FIR was registered at Holenaraseepur town police station in Hassan district against Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (insult to modesty of woman) IPC, based on a complaint by one of the alleged victims.

HD Revanna had faced two criminal cases—one relating to sexual assault allegations and another involving kidnapping allegations. He was granted bail in both cases on May 13.

Advocate G Arun appeared for HD Revanna, while Special Public Prosecutor Ashok Naik represented the State.