The Delhi court has issued orders to formally charge BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the case involving accusations of sexual harassment made by six women wrestlers.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot’s court determined that there was enough evidence to proceed with charges against Bhushan concerning outraging the modesty of a woman and sexual harassment under sections 354 and 354A of the IPC, involving five women. However, Bhushan was discharged from all accusations brought by the sixth victim, dating back to 2012.
Furthermore, the court found substantial evidence to support charges under section 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) in relation to allegations made by two victims, identified as victim number 1 and victim number 5.
The court stated that there was adequate evidence to proceed with framing charges against Vinod Tomar, the former WFI assistant secretary and the second accused in the case, specifically for criminal intimidation in connection to the allegations made by one victim. However, Tomar was discharged from the charge of abetment.
Last month, ACMM Rajpoot rejected Bhushan’s plea for further investigation in the case. Previously, the court had postponed framing charges against Bhushan because his advocate Rajeev Mohan requested additional investigation, claiming that Bhushan was not in Delhi when one of the six wrestlers was allegedly molested. Brij Bhushan
In June of last year, Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Bhushan for alleged sexual harassment, assault, and stalking of six women wrestlers. The 1,500-page chargesheet included statements from at least 22 witnesses from four states, comprising wrestlers, a referee, a coach, and a physiotherapist, all corroborating the allegations against Singh made by the six women wrestlers.
The chargesheet was filed against Bhushan and Tomar under several sections of the IPC, including 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 109 (abetment), and 506 (criminal intimidation). Brij Bhushan
Approximately 220 WFI staffers, wrestlers, referees, and coaches, along with Singh and his associates, were among those examined in the case.
In addition, the police filed a 550-page report in the Patiala House Courts, seeking the cancellation of the POCSO Act case against Singh. This request came after a wrestler, who was a minor at the time of the alleged incident, and her father, the complainant, retracted their allegations against Singh in a fresh statement before a magistrate. This retraction occurred after the wrestler had initially given two statements, one to the police and another before a magistrate, against Bhushan. Brij Bhushan
In September of the previous year, Additional Sessions Judge Chhavi Kapoor had reserved October 6 for deciding on the POCSO cancellation report. However, the decision is still pending, as it was deferred on April 23.
