The Karnataka High Court Saturday will hear former chief minister B S Yediyurappa’s petition challenging the trial court’s cognisance in the case registered against him last year under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Justice M I Arun will hear Yediyurappa’s petition.
The case was initially heard by a single-judge bench of Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur, which had on March 14 granted a stay on cognisance in the case as well as a stay on the summons for Yediyurappa to appear before the court personally.
In March 2024, a woman accused Yediyurappa of inappropriately touching her daughter when they visited him in February to seek help regarding an earlier instance of sexual assault. Based on the complaint from her, the Bengaluru police registered an FIR on March 14 that year.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) also filed a chargesheet against Yediyurappa, and three other accused in this case.
While trials in Pocso cases are required to be completed within one year of taking cognisance of offences, legal challenges have delayed them in this instance.
In the March order, Justice Yerur ruled that the benefit of a stay regarding personal appearance could be granted in this case as a similar benefit had been given last year in July, when a bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna had heard a previous challenge.
Justice Yerur stated in his order, “Under these circumstances, the matter requires a detailed hearing. The State will have to be given an opportunity to file a statement or produce any material and address the arguments on the main matters. Till then, the benefit of the interim order which enured to the petitioners in the earlier round of the petition… would have to be granted. The petitioners in both these cases deserve a similar order, till the next date of hearing, until the matter is decided on merits.”
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In the previous case before Justice Nagaprasanna, the matter was referred back to the Pocso Court, as the original cognisance taken by the court had been deemed to be an “unreasoned” order. However, Justice Nagaprasanna noted in his order that the registration of the crime, report, and investigation were all untouched by his order.
The subsequent cognisance of the chargesheet is under challenge again in this case before Justice Arun Saturday.