NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Wednesday said its probe against sidelined Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a couple of sexual harassment cases is still in progress, refuting reports in a section of the media that sufficient evidence was not found to arrest him.
“The cases filed by women wrestlers are still under consideration. Status reports are being filed before the court regarding the investigation,” a senior Delhi Police official said.
Curiously, the police had from its official Twitter handle stated that the media’s claims were wrong, but deleted that tweet after some time.
Singh is facing two cases of sexual harassment, one of them on a complaint by a minor, under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. But a man claiming to be the uncle of the minor victim sought to demolish her charges, alleging she was not a minor. He went on to accuse the agitating top wrestlers of using the minor to frame Singh.
The pushback came from Delhi Commission for Women’s Chairperson Swati Maliwal, who said it was a criminal offence to reveal the identity of the minor victim. Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur urged protesting wrestlers not to take any step that could undermine sports or hurt players, adding proper action will be taken once the probe is over.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra BJP MP Pritam Munde, daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, became the first BJP lawmaker to express he displeasure at the denial of justice to the wrestlers. “The government should have quickly carried out an inquiry. Action should have been taken against the guilty. As a Lok Sabha MP and woman, I am very much concerned about it,” Pritam Munde said.