Karnataka High Court refuses to give copies of digital evidence affecting privacy of victim woman and others to Prajwal Revanna in rape case 

High Court denies former MP Prajwal Revanna's plea for cloned copy of FSL report in rape case.

Observing orally that “the law cannot be bent” for former MP Prajwal Revanna, the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday declined his plea seeking a cloned copy of the entire digital data that are part of the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) report in one of the four rape cases in which a chargesheet has been filed against him.

Citing the apex court’s judgment in P. Gopalakrishna alias Dileep vs. State of Kerala, the High Court Court said Prajwal is entitled to only inspection of the digital evidence, retrieved from a mobile phone, as the data entails privacy of the victim complainant and others, who are not related to the case registered against him.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while disposing of the petition filed by Prajwal seeking a cloned copy of digital data, which as per the FSL report contain around 15,000 images and 2,000 videos recovered from the seized mobile phone that reportedly belonged to his driver.

“... if you are trying to extract materials relating to all the women you have had escapades with, that cannot be permitted ... When they [other women victims] are not giving any statements against you why do you want to invade their privacy?... We cannot allow an invasion of their privacy...”, the court observed orally.

The crux of Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is that whatever prosecution relies on must be given to the accused but in cases involving the privacy of the victim, etc., the court can provide only inspection of such materials as per the apex court verdict in Gopalakrishnan’s case, Mr. Justice Nagaprasanna made it clear while stating that he would pass an order allowing only inspection of such data but cannot allow Prajwal to get copies in a pen drive.

“Forget about others. The victim woman’s images in this case are here and they are obscene to the core... Just because you are Prajwal Revanna, the law cannot be bent for you,” the court orally said.

Earlier, it was contended by Prajwal’s advocate that not providing copies of data would cause prejudice to the accused as he cannot defend himself properly as he is facing the serious charge of rape. The law has to be flexible giving the proper opportunity to the accused persons, it was contended.