BENGALURU: Speaking in the assembly on Monday on the sex CD scandal, home minister Basavaraj Bommai said: "We are checking the veracity of the video which was uploaded from an unknown place. If found genuine, we will book a case under Section 376 of IPC against Ramesh Jarkiholi.
There is no question of protecting anyone," Bommai said. He turned down the opposition's demand for a judicial probe into the scandal under the supervision of the chief justice of the high court.
"You register an FIR based on a complaint by Jarkiholi but not on the woman's statement. This shows you're adopting different yardsticks. Moreover, the woman has clearly said the minister "used" her. It means there was no consent. This amounts to rape," opposition leader Siddaramaiah alleged.
Further, he said, not registering an FIR based on her video statement by the SIT is also a violation of guidelines of the Supreme Court after the Nirbhaya case.
He accused the SIT of failing to trace the victim, even after three weeks of the scandal coming to light. "They (government) are more interested in probing the conspiracy angle highlighted by Jarkiholi rather than the injustice meted out to the woman," he alleged.
Bommai said the SIT has been trying its best to trace her but she is on the run.
Former speaker KR Rameshkumar demanded the government include the woman's statement in the terms of reference given to SIT.
KPCC president and Congress MLA DK Shivakumar demanded the SIT find out if the CD was fake, doctored or edited before probing the conspiracy angle.
"Tell the cyber police and they will find out if the CD is genuine and if the person in the CD is the former minister or not within no time," Shivakumar said.
The opposition also took ministers K Sudhakar, ST Somashekhar, Byrathi Basavaraj, KC Narayan Gowda, Shivaram Hebbar and BC Patil to task for bringing about an interim injunction against media from publishing defamatory material against them.
"These ministers have no moral right to continue in office even for a day. If they have not done anything wrong, what was the need to take legal protection? When they cannot protect themselves, how can they work fearlessly and protect people?" Siddaramaiah said.
Sudhakar defended the decision, saying he and his colleagues had utilised the legal route available to protect their reputation and image.