A special court in Bengaluru on Friday took fresh cognisance of a chargesheet against former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and three others in a case about the alleged sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl, Live Law reported. The court directed them to appear before it on March 15.

The case against Yediyurappa was registered on March 14 last year under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl. The girl is a rape survivor in an unrelated case from 2015.

The Criminal Investigation Department had filed a chargesheet against the BJP leader in the matter. The special court had first taken cognisance of the chargesheet on July 4.

Yediyurappa then moved the High Court to have the case against him quashed. On February 9, the High Court granted anticipatory bail to the Bharatiya Janata Party leader but refused to quash the case, sending it back to the trial court.

However, the High Court told the trial court to “pass appropriate orders afresh on the issue of taking cognisance of offences”, The Hindu reported. As per this directive, the special court again took cognisance of the chargesheet.

The 81-year-old BJP leader is accused of having sexually assaulted the minor on February 2, 2024, when she, along with her mother, met him to seek his help in the rape case. He also faces charges of sexual harassment under Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code.

Yediyurappa denied that he sexually assaulted the minor and told investigators in June that he was only helping her legally in the 2015 rape case.

POCSO case against Yediyurappa

According to the complainant, when she met Yediyurappa on February 2, she was asked to go to another room while her mother was explaining the details of the rape case. It was there that the former chief minister subsequently allegedly molested her, reported The News Minute.

Yediyurappa and his three associates, Arun YM, Rudresh M and Y Mariswamy, were also charged under provisions of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to destruction of evidence (Section 204) and offering bribes for concealing the offence (Section 214) for allegedly destroying a video recorded by the girl’s mother during the confrontation with the former chief minister after the alleged incident of sexual assault.