Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh asked for sexual favours and groped female wrestlers among other instances of harassment, according to two First Information Reports (FIR) filed against him at Delhi’s Connaught Place police station.
Out of the two FIRs, one contains the complaints of six wrestlers, while the other is based on the complaint of a minor’s father.
The FIRs cite IPC Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 34 (common intention). These sections have a jail term of one to three years. The FIR based on the minor’s father’s complaint also invokes Section 10 of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), which could lead up to five to seven years of imprisonment.
However, the charges against Singh do not account for seven years of imprisonment, hence protecting him from immediate arrest.
According to one FIR, a wrestler said that she was harassed in Mongolia in 2006.
The WFI chief placed his hand on her breast without consent, she said. “I tried to resist the actions of Singh but could not react to the indecent and continuous acts of groping and molestation by Singh as I was shell-shocked due to the acts of the accused person to the extent that it sent a chill down my spine and my body froze and I could not react in any manner,” the FIR reads.
As she was training in Bellary, Karnataka for the Asian Indoor Games the werestlers suffered a serious concussion for which she was hospitalised. Despite informing the Wrestling Federation of the incident via email, the federation issued a show cause notice to her without considering her emails, according to the FIR. The notice required her to visit the federation’s office in New Delhi.
During a meeting that happened in her visit to the federation, Singh touched her her inappropriately on her palm, knee, thighs and shoulders without consent. Another incident of harrassment followed this on the next day, where the WFI chief on the pretext of checking her breathing, touched her inappropriately with the intent to outrage her modesty.
According to a report from India Today, the BJP MP pressed the minor complainant’s shoulder and deliberately touched her inappropriately. The complaint also states that she asked the WFI chief not to follow her, the report added.
Olympic and World Championships medal winning wrestles, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, have been protesting in New Delhi demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23 were removed from the site by the police on Sunday after they tried to march to the new Parliament building during its inauguration. They were detained and released later.
(Updates with inputs from agencies)
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