NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Wednesday filed its written submissions in a court enunciating its stand on whether to frame charges on the wrestlers’ alleged sexual harassment case against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastav, representing the police, filed the arguments as the case, based on a complaint made by six female wrestlers against Singh, was taken up before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Harjeet Singh Jaspal at Rouse Avenue Court.
The submission came following the arguments of the defence counsel for the accused. The complainants filed their written submissions on November 28 and the matter will again be taken up on December 20 for clarification on the framing of charges.
Singh appeared before the court in person along with co-accused Vinod Tomar, the suspended assistant secretary of WFI. The police had submitted that the alleged molestation of the wrestlers took place at different locations in the country and abroad as per statements made by victims and witnesses.
Singh, in a previous hearing, had argued that “Hugging...touching a woman without criminal force or sexual intent is not an offence.” He had also argued there were “material contradictions” made by prosecution witnesses, saying it could take the case away from “grave suspicion” to only “mere suspicion.”
In a previous hearing, Singh’s counsel had argued that “the statements of the prosecution witnesses, that itself calls for discharge of the accused as the contradictions have the effect of taking the case away from the arena of grave suspicion, towards only mere suspicion.”
The allegations by the female grapplers against accused persons pertain to various incidents of sexual harassment, spread over a period of about ten years, at various places, in and outside of India. In Singh’s case, the court had earlier taken cognisance of the offences committed under Sections 354 (outraging modesty), 354A (sexually coloured remarks) and 354D (stalking), 506 (para 1) (criminal intimidation) and 109 (abetment to offence) of the Indian Penal Code while initiating further proceedings as per the law.
The sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a six-time MP, was moved by a group of woman wrestlers. This was followed by massive protests backed by some of the country’s top wrestlers including Olympic medallists like Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia.