Delhi Court Reserves Order on Matter Related to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

The Rouse Avenue Court has reserved its decision against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the case of alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The next hearing in the case will be on April 18.

New Delhi: The Rouse Avenue Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on framing of charges against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in connection with allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers.

Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajput, after hearing arguments of all parties, will pronounce the verdict on April 18. The court had heard the arguments of all the parties on 27 February. On February 27, Delhi Police had said if we wanted, we could have filed six separate FIRs against the accused, but this would have delayed the trial.

Opposing this, Brij Bhushan Singh's lawyer said that if there is no continuity in the allegations then FIR cannot be registered on different charges.

Brij Bhushan Singh made a demand to acquit him in this case. Singh's lawyer contended that this court does not have jurisdiction over the incidents that took place in Tokyo, Mongolia, Bulgaria, Jakarta, Kazakhstan, Turkey etc.

On January 23, questions were raised by the women grapplers on the formation of the oversight committee and its investigation. Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for the women wrestlers, had said that the oversight committee was not constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment Act.

"The Oversight Committee is not an internal grievance redressal committee. In such a situation, the report of this committee cannot be trusted," John contended.

Rebecca had said that female wrestlers were molested during the wrestling competition in Mongolia. "In April 2016, the accused allegedly touched the victim in the dining hall of a hotel in Mongolia. The accused also hugged grapplers after they won the gold medal in August 2018. At the same time, in 2019, wrestlers were molested in Kazakhstan. In February 2022, in Bulgaria also, a female wrestler was molested," Rebecca had contended.

However, Delhi Police had said during the hearing on January 6 that this court has jurisdiction over this case. Earlier, Delhi Police had accused Brij Bhushan of threatening the women wrestlers and asking them to keep their mouths shut.

The court had granted bail to Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and co-accused Vinod Tomar on July 20, 2023. On July 7, 2023, the court had taken cognizance of the charge sheet filed by Delhi Police.

On June 15, 2023, Delhi Police filed a charge sheet under sections 354, 354D, 354A and 506 (1) of the Indian Penal Code.