Brij Bhushan Singh: Sexual harassment of wrestlers: HC asks Delhi Police to respond to Brij Bhushan’s plea for early hearing

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response from the city police and wrestlers on a plea filed by former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh seeking early hearing on his petition seeking quashing of an FIR against him submitted by several female wrestlers. Singh has sought postponement of the date of hearing in the main petition, which is listed as January 13, 2025, on the ground that the case is at the stage of recording of prosecution evidence before the court and by the time the case will come to court. the Supreme Court, most witnesses will be questioned.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued notice to the Delhi Police and the wrestlers about the application, in which Singh also urged the Supreme Court to direct the court not to proceed with the criminal case until his pending petition is disposed of.

The Supreme Court asked the police and the wrestlers to submit their responses to the petition and posted it for hearing on December 16.

During the brief hearing, Singh, represented by advocate Rajiv Mohan, stated that being a special court, the court is hearing the case on a weekly basis and one of the victims has already been investigated.

Seeking to stay the proceedings before the court, the petition said if the trial continues, it will cause prejudice and mental anguish to Singh, who claimed to have a strong case on merits for quashing the FIR.

The Supreme Court had earlier issued a notice seeking response from the police and the wrestlers on Singh’s petition seeking quashing of the FIR and filing charges against him in the sexual harassment case filed by several women wrestlers.

Singh, who is also a former BJP MP, was accused of sexual assault last year by several female wrestlers who protested for weeks demanding a probe against him.

The Delhi Police filed an FIR against him after the Supreme Court’s intervention in May 2023. After a court filed charges of sexual harassment, intimidation and outrage over women’s modesty against the former lawmaker on May 21, Singh approached the Supreme Court. August claims that he was wrongly implicated and that he did not commit a criminal offense as alleged by the prosecutor.

Singh, in his plea, has argued that the investigation was conducted in a biased manner as only the version of the victims, who were interested in taking ‘revenge’ on him, was taken into account. He said the charge sheet was filed before the court without taking into account the falsity of the allegation.

The petition states that the pending proceedings before the court under the FIR are against the natural principles of law and justice as each alleged incident is an “isolated offence” and not “cumulative of a continuous series of events constitutes or is part of a single transaction”.

It also said that some allegations even refer to incidents that took place outside India’s jurisdiction.

Earlier, the police submitted to the Supreme Court that the petition was not maintainable.

The court also framed the charge of criminal intimidation against the co-accused and former assistant secretary of WFI, Vinod Tomar, in the case. He has contested the charge and FIR in this petition.