New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that Prajwal Revanna, Janata Dal (Secular) member of parliament accused of sexual abuse of scores of women, had used his diplomatic passport to travel to Germany without obtaining political clearance. The ministry also noted that his passport cannot be revoked without a court order.
An FIR was filed against Revanna, grandson of former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda, based on the complaint of a woman alleging that she was sexually abused between 2019 and 2022.
More than 2,000 videos have apparently surfaced which show him doing sexual acts with women, several of them seemingly without consent.
Revanna departed from Bengaluru at 2 am on April 27 using his diplomatic passport, shortly after the alleged sex abuse accusations were made public.
Confirming that Revanna travelled on his diplomatic passport, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that “no political clearance was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect of the travel of the said MP to Germany”.
He also said that no visa note was issued by the MEA, especially since diplomatic passport holders do not require any visas to travel to Germany. “The ministry has not issued visa note for any other country,” he added.
According to parliamentary guidelines, members of parliament are required to apply for prior political clearance directly to the MEA, even if the travel is for private purposes like tourism or meeting family.
As per sources, the immigration staff at the airport don’t seek any documentation about political clearance from diplomatic passport holders.
A day earlier, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to cancel the 33-year-old Hassan MP’s diplomatic passport and to ensure the return of Revanna back to India.
To the demand to cancel the passport, the MEA spokesperson said that it would require judicial intervention.
“As regards the possible revocation of the passport of any individual, I would refer you to the relevant provisions of the Passport Act 1967. We are not in receipt of any directions from any court in this regard,” he said.
The Karnataka Police, which had set up a Special Investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations, had issued a lookout notice to various immigration points in the country.
