Bengaluru, Apr 2 (UNI) The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday quashed a rape case filed in 2015 against Raghaveshwara Bharati Swami, the head of the Shree Ramachandrapura Math, citing procedural irregularities and an unexplained delay in filing the complaint.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that the nine-year delay in reporting the alleged incidents was not justified. The case involved allegations that the seer raped a female disciple in 2006 when she was a minor and again in 2012 after she had become an adult.

The court ruled that the chargesheet in the case had been improperly filed by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) before it was legally declared a police station by a 2024 government notification. It also noted that a magistrate had failed to apply judicial discretion while taking cognisance of the case in 2018.

The complainant, a former disciple of the Math, claimed that the seer exploited her under the guise of astrological remedies and later pressured her into marriage. She further alleged that she was threatened into silence when another rape case was filed against the seer. However, the High Court found the procedural lapses significant enough to dismiss the case.

With this ruling, all proceedings before the trial court stand quashed. Earlier, in December 2021, the High Court had upheld the acquittal of the seer in another rape case filed by a Ramakatha singer in 2014. UNI BDN SSP