POCSO Case Against Yediyurappa: The Tale Told And Untold (image:facebook.com/BSYBJP)

The Bengaluru Special Court on Thursday issued non-bailable arrest warrant against the former chief minister of Karnataka and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa. The case is registered under Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO )Act and Section 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Soon after the move, the ex-chief minister has approached the Karnataka High Court by filing two separate petitions; one, seeking quashing the FIR registered against him under the legal provisions; second, grant him anticipatory bail, to prevent arrest in the case. The court heard his bail petition on Friday, and stayed the arrest of BJP veteran.

Quest For Justice

Yediyurappa has been booked on the basis of a complaint filed by the mother of a 17-year-old girl on March 14, 2024 who alleged that Yediyurappa had sexually assaulted her daughter on February 2, 2024, at his residence in Bengaluru. The complainant, a 54-year-old woman died last month at a private hospital, due to lung cancer.

Also Read|Karnataka High Court Stays Arrest Of Yediyurappa In POCSO Case

Since she passed away, her son moved to the High Court pursuing directions to the CID to arrest BJP veteran and conduct interrogation. Besides, he also urged the court to issue instructions to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to secure all digital material including CCTV footage, memory card, and hard disc, in relation with the case.

The warrant has been pronounced following a petition from the investigative agency. Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H Nayak is representing for the CID in the case. However, the 81-year-old Yediyurappa has strongly denied the charges and asserted that he would fight the case legally. At present, Yediyurappa is in Delhi where he is undertaking his tasks as BJP parliamentary board member.

Meanwhile, The New Minute (TNM) spoke to the minor’s family and they opened up about the ordeal they are going through and details the son’s decision to continue the fight his mother has started which also includes leading the case against Yediyurappa. The TNM’s article titled “POCSO case against BS Yediyurappa: Minor’s family breaks silence,” written by Anisha Sheth, and Shivani Kava got published on Thursday.

The Beginning

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When at first news reports carried Yediyurappa’s name in the POCSO case, doubt was casted on the authenticity of claims stated by victim’s mother by creating an impression that multiple police complaints lodged by her denotes her aim was to target influential persons. After careful evaluation of the list of complaints, the TNM found that out of the 59 entries, she lodged a total of six cases, where the remaining 53 are pleas seeking action her complaints.

Among the six, four of the FIRs were linked to the sexual assault case, where the remaining two were based on cheating in business. Besides, she filed a private complaint with a court concerning a senior IPS officer who allegedly mistreated her when she asked for his intervention. During the course of trials, she endured threats from alleged accused relative’s family to withdraw the POCSO case, the TNM reports.

Though family’s financial status got badly hit by then, victim’s mother relentlessly pursued the case to seek justice to her daughter. But the desperation affected her physical and mental health as well. She lost trust in people, family and system, and illness became her constant companion. Even after surviving kidney cancer in 2010, around last year she developed lung cancer and died of complication stemming from it.

Seeking Yediyurappa’s Help

In 2018, the family met Yediyurappa for the first time seeking for help and in February this year, mother and her daughter went Yediyurappa’s residence asking government form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look at the 2015 POCSO case. As mother narrated the case details to Yediyurappa, as per the reports, he allegedly asked daughter to go to a room where he allegedly molested her.

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The TNM reports that after the FIR was registered against former Chief Minister, a video appeared on social media, and in that, mother of the victim is heard confronting Yediyurappa what did he do to her daughter. To which, Yediyurappa reportedly responds: “She is like my granddaughter. I have seven grandchildren and she is like one of them. She is a smart child. Nanu nodi, check maadide (I saw and I checked.),” the TNM reports.

And the 16-minute video ends with Yediyurappa placing a call apparently to Police Commissioner B Dayananda saying, “I am sending a person to your office, please help her out. It’s a genuine case,” the TNM report adds. After the Yediyurappa allegedly sexually assaulted her minor daughter, mother valiantly pursued that case till her death.

Now, after her death, his son is continuing the fight his mother started.