Karnataka High Court upholds acquittal of Raghaveshwara Bharathi in rape case

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday upheld a trial court's acquittal of Raghaveshwara Bharathi Swamiji, accused of raping a Ramakatha singer [Smt Premalatha Divakar v. The State of Karnataka]..A Vacation Bench of Justice V Srishananda dismissed separate appeals filed by the prosecutrix and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) against an order of the City Civil and Sessions Judge, Bangalore, dated 31 March 2016.Pertinently, throughout the proceedings, several judges recused from hearing this case citing personal reasons..In 2014, the prosecutrix, a Ramakatha singer at the Ramachandrapura Matha Hosanagara accused the seer of rape. The accused was charged under Sections 376 (2) (f), 376 (2) (n) (punishment for rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code..After a lengthy trial, Judge GB Mudigoudar of the 53rd City Civil and Sessions Court in Bangalore acquitted the accused, holding that there was not even an iota of material against the accused.While acquitting the seer, the Court entirely disbelieved the claims of the prosecutrix reasoning that the her contention of submitting herself to sex under the fear of “Promise on God” 169 times was unbelievable and opposed to common sense.“The sole material of prosecutrix being a improbable and opposed to commonsense of reasonable prudent man cannot be accepted at its face value as her conduct is unnatural as opposed to human conduct. The story of prosecutirx is unworthy credence and not supported by legally admissible evidence,” the trial court said. .In fact, it was opined that the accused deserved to be discharged only on the ground that the complaint was lodged after a delay of more than 3 years from the date of the first alleged incident..This decision of the trial court was challenged before the High Court on May 2, 2016, which now stands dismissed.Detailed order awaited.