Overview

• BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra visited Soujanya’s family in Dharmasthala and pledged to cover costs if they file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court.
• The party urged the Karnataka government to reopen the case, backed a re-investigation, and called for an acquittal review committee.
• Soujanya, a 17-year-old student, was raped and murdered near Dharmasthala in 2012, and a CBI special court acquitted the lone accused, Santhosh Rao, in July 2023.
• The CBI challenged the acquittal, but in 2024 the Karnataka High Court rejected pleas for reinvestigation and upheld the trial court’s conclusions, citing lack of eyewitnesses and lost ‘golden hour’ evidence.
• The latest push followed the BJP’s ‘Dharmasthala Chalo’ rally and comes as activists continue campaigns alleging protection of culprits, while a separate SIT probe into alleged mass burials does not include the Soujanya case.