A Delhi court has acquitted former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the sexual harassment case lodged by six women wrestlers against him and secretary Vinod Tomar, two years after the trial began.
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Additional chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Ashwini Panwar of Rouse Avenue Courts had reserved orders on the judgement on July 2. The court had also directed both the prosecution and the defence to submit written arguments within two weeks.
Singh has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) while co-accused and former WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar has been charged for criminal intimidation.
The maximum punishment for the offences entail a five-year imprisonment.
What was the case?
The sexual harassment case against Singh and Tomar came after a wave of prolonged protests held at Jantar Mantar on January 2023, by several prominent women wrestlers, where they accused Singh of sexual harassing multiple female wrestlers over several years, demanding his arrest and removal from the federation.
Singh, formerly a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, was subsequently removed as the federation head owing to the allegations. Tomar, a close aide of Singh, was also suspended following the allegations.
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After the Union Sports Ministry assured the protesting athletes that a committee would be formed to investigate the allegations, the protests were suspended, however, they resumed in April 2023 after wrestlers claimed no meaningful action.
First FIRs after SC intervention
On April 28, 2023, on the Supreme Court’s intervention, the Delhi Police registered two first information reports (FIR), the present case based on the complaint of six adult women wrestlers against Singh and Tomar and the second case against Singh, invoking sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on the allegations of a minor wrestler.
According to both the FIRs, the sexual harassment allegations against Singh spanned between the years 2012 and 2022.
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In May last year however, a Delhi court had closed the POCSO case against Singh after the minor victim, now an adult, retracted her allegations of sexual harassment made against him. This came after the Delhi Police filed a closure report in the case in June 2023, concluding “no corroborative evidence” in its investigation.
Chargesheet and two years of trial
In June 2023, police filed a chargesheet against Singh and Tomar, concluding that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the accused for the offences. A year later in May 2024, court framed charges against both the accused, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The trial, held as in-camera proceedings, began in July 2024, and saw 32 witnesses being examined by the prosecution, which included the six victims apart from officials of WFI and Sports Authority of India (SAI).
The prosecution, led by additional public prosecutor Manish Rawat, has argued before court that all the witnesses have corroborated the versions of the victims. The victims are represented by senior advocate Rebecca John.
Meanwhile Singh, led by advocate Rajiv Mohan, has denied the allegations, calling them “motivated” and a “bid to remove him from the post of WFI”. He also argued for an improvement in testimony of victims during trial.
