Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh sexually harassed wrestlers “whenever and wherever he got the opportunity”, Delhi Police told a local court on Saturday, reported The Indian Express.
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court was hearing arguments for framing of charges against Brij Bhushan, after chargesheet was filed in the sexual harassment case by six women wrestlers.
Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Atul Kumar Srivastava, arguing for framing of charges against Brij Bhushan, said, “Whenever and wherever he got the opportunity, he outraged the modesty of the complainants.”
Srivastava, representing the Delhi Police, pointed out “that the outgoing WFI chief “knew what he was doing” and his intention was to outrage the modesty of the wrestlers, reports India Today.
The counsel also pointed out that there are three types of evidence against the BJP MP which are enough to frame charges, which include: a written complaint and two recorded statements under Sections 161 (examination of witnesses by the police) and 164 (statements recorded by a Magistrate) under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Srivastava also argued, using various judgments, that there was a common thread between the incidents that happened with the six women complainants, and therefore, it made sense to club the FIRs.
Allegations of sexual harassment against the outgoing WFI chief came to the fore when India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia as well as two-time World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, had first launched a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in January against him.
In April, the protests resumed after no action was taken by an oversight committee that had been formed to investigate the allegations.
Following Supreme Court’s intervention, the Delhi Police registered an FIR and on June 15, Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against the six-time MP on June 15 Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reports India Today.
Five days later, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal had granted bail to Brij Bhushan and suspended WFI additional secretary Vinod Tomar.
The next hearing will be held on October 7 in the Rouse Avenue Court.