BENGALURU: The woman seen in the sex tape, allegedly involving former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, on Monday informed the Karnataka High Court that she is safe wherever she is in the city, and there is no threat to her. She also said that she is not interested in joining her parents, at least till the case comes to an end, and will think about it later.
The woman, who appeared through a video-conference before the division bench of Justices Krishna S Dixit and Pradeep Singh Herur at Dharwad Bench of High Court, made the statement in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by her father. Recording her statement in the order and also in digital format, the court disposed of the petition. Her father filed the petition on May 27, 2021, and the very next day the court issued a notice.
It also directed the Registrar General of the High Court to visit the victim personally to enquire and ascertain her status and submit a report. The court also directed that the woman be made to appear before it through video-conference. The Registrar General got details of her whereabouts from the SIT and visited her. During the hearing at 2.30 pm on Monday, the Registrar General and the woman appeared before the bench through video-conferencing.
‘Confirm authenticity, file response’
During a hearing of a batch of PILs related to the case, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj, at Principal Bench in Bengaluru, directed the SIT to ascertain whether the letter addressed to the Registrar General on May 19, 2021 was written by the same person who had sent a letter earlier. Directing the SIT to submit its response to the letter by June 17, 2021, the court directed either the SIT chief or anyone permitted by him to verify the investigation report before submitting it to the court in a sealed cover. The SIT submitted a report of the investigation into three complaints filed at Sadashivanagar, Cubbon Park and RT Nagar police stations.