Janata Dal (Secular) Prajwal Revanna, sitting MP and candidate for Hassan Assembly constituency in Karnataka, has been charged in the obscene video case The controversy sparked and he was suspended on Tuesday.
After the JD(S) core committee meeting, the committee chairman said that a recommendation to suspend Prajwal has been made to state president HD Deve Gowda.
“The party has welcomed the SIT probe ordered by the state government. At the meeting, we decided to fully support the probe. We have advised state president HD Deve Gowda to suspend his party membership due to allegations of disrespect towards women.” JD(S) Core said committee chairman and senior party leader G T Devegowda.
Also read: HD Kumaraswamy says Prajwal Revanna ‘obscene video’ case ‘shameful’, Congress MP faces expulsion from JD(S)
Senior party leader HD Kumaraswamy said the party would wait for the outcome of the investigation.
“If the allegations are true, he will be permanently expelled from the party,” Kumaraswamy said.
Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda, is involved in an obscene video case in Karnataka.
A series of obscene videos purportedly involving Prajwal have been circulating and despite a Special Investigation Team (SIT) being formed to investigate the allegations, Prajwal left the country. Some of the videos appeared to depict sexual assault.
A first information report (FIR) of sexual harassment was lodged against Prajwal and MP HD Revanna on Sunday based on a complaint by a woman working from home. The woman claimed that she was sexually abused multiple times between 2019 and 2022.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that HD Revanna and Prajwal often sexually assaulted the female workers at their home.
Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).