SC stays POCSO trial, grants interim relief to Yediyurappa, seeks Karnataka’s response

The case stems from allegations by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, who accused Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting her daughter during a meeting at his Bengaluru residence in February 2024.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, granted interim relief to former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in the POCSO case, agreeing to examine his appeal against the Karnataka High Court’s decision to let the proceedings continue.

Issuing notice in the matter, the apex court also stayed all ongoing trial court proceedings, effectively putting the case on hold until it takes up the petition for hearing.

A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Karnataka government, the State CID and the complainant, asking whether the Karnataka High Court was wrong in declining to examine the BJP leader's quashing plea on merits. The judges observed that the High Court appeared to have “misconstrued” an earlier Supreme Court order that had expressly allowed the senior leader to raise all legal objections before the appropriate forum.

“The coordinate Bench has misconstrued the previous decision… while holding that, in light of the decision in the previous round, the petition cannot be heard on merits. Hence, we issue notice for the limited purpose of deciding afresh in light of the liberty granted to the petitioner vide order dated February 7, 2025,” the top court noted, while granting interim protection by staying all proceedings before the trial court.

Senior advocates Siddharth Luthra and Siddharth Dave, appearing for Yediyurappa, argued that the High Court had wrongly relied on past observations suggesting the case should proceed to trial, instead of independently examining the material placed before it. They submitted that the earlier ruling, where the first cognisance order was set aside, had explicitly preserved Yediyurappa’s right to challenge the case at a preliminary stage. Luthra also contended that the 88-year-old, a four-time Chief Minister, was facing a prosecution driven by “political vendetta.”

The case stems from allegations by the mother of a 17-year-old girl, who accused Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting her daughter during a meeting at his Bengaluru residence in February 2024.

The Sadashivanagar police registered the FIR on March 14, 2024, before the investigation was transferred to the CID. The agency re-registered the FIR and subsequently filed a chargesheet under Section 8 of the POCSO Act and Sections 354A, 204 and 214 read with Section 37 of the IPC.

The matter will next be taken up after Karnataka files its response.