Sexual harassment case: Former President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has got a big relief from the Patiala House Court in Delhi in a famous case of sexual harassment. The court on Monday accepted the closure report of the Delhi Police, under which a minor wrestler demanded the cancellation of sexual harassment charges against him. With this decision, the proceedings of the case registered under the POCSO Act have ended.
In January 2023, many famous wrestlers of the country, including Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia. Who made serious allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. These allegations included inappropriate touch, tampering and intimidation incidents. The dharna of wrestlers at Jantar Mantar brought the matter into the national headlines. Based on the complaint of one of these minor wrestler, Delhi Police registered the first FIR against Brij Bhushan on 28 April 2023 under the POCSO Act. However, on 15 June 2023, Delhi Police filed a closure report in this case. Police investigation found that the father of the minor wrestler admitted that his complaint was false. The father gave a statement in the court, ‘My daughter’s complaint was wrong. We had filed this complaint in misunderstanding and now we want to withdraw it. Based on this statement, the police had filed a closure report citing no concrete evidence in the POCSO case.
Additional Sessions Judge of Patiala House Court Chitra Sharma accepted the closure report of the Delhi Police during the hearing on Monday. The court admitted that there is a lack of adequate evidence in this case and the statement of the minor’s father has also questioned the credibility of the complaint. After this decision, all legal proceedings against Brij Bhushan in the POCSO case have ended. However, it is worth noting that another case to sexual harassment allegations made by other six women wrestlers is still going on in the court. In this case, Brij Bhushan has been framed charges under Section 354 (attack with the intention of dissolving the dignity of the woman), 354A (sexual harassment), and 354D (chasing) of the IPC. Its next hearing will be held in July 2025.
