New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday took exception to the adjournment sought by former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Singh in his petition to quash the proceedings in relation to the sexual harassment case lodged against him by women wrestlers.
“Why are you not arguing this? Since you’ve filed, the main (petition) has not been argued even once,” Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said to Bhushan’s lawyer.
This was after the former BJP MP’s lawyer urged the court to list the matter for another date, citing the unavailability of the senior counsel. The complainant’s lawyer, Rebecca John, pointed out that the trial court had already examined eight witnesses.
The court, however, fixed April 21 as the next date of hearing.
In his plea filed through advocates Rajiv Mohan, Rishabh Bhati, and Rehan Khan in 2024, the former BJP MP had sought the quashing of the first information report (FIR) and the proceedings emanating from it. He claimed that the case against him was “false” and “frivolous”. His plea went on to add that the probe was considered in a biased manner, and the charge sheet was filed without taking care of the falsehood of the allegation.
In 2024, the court had asked Delhi police and women wrestlers to file their response in the petition. A bench of justice Manoj Kumar Ohri had opined that Singh’s petition was maintainable, despite a different bench admonishing Singh for filing the plea after framing of charges on August 29, 2024. Describing the former MP’s plea as “oblique” and taking exception to the same, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna observed that if Bhushan wanted to challenge the proceedings, he should have come before the commencement of the trial.
In the previous hearings, the Delhi police and wrestlers had objected to the maintainability of Singh’s plea, saying that the same was preferred after the cops filed a chargesheet and the court framed the charges.
The matter had gained momentum after several female wrestlers spoke out against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in January 2023 and accused him of sexual exploitation and intimidation. On June 15, 2023, Delhi Police filed a 1082-page charge sheet against Singh and Vinod Tomar, former WFI assistant secretary and co-accused, following complaints by the wrestlers.
While Singh was charged with sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking) of the IPC, his aide Tomar, in addition to sections 354 and 354A, was also charged under sections 109 (abetment) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The cops had also filed a 552-page cancellation report in the case filed against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Based on the allegations from the five complainants, the city court in May framed charges under section 354 (assault or use of criminal force to outrage modesty) and 354A (sexual harassment) against Singh. He was also charged under Section 506 Part 1 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC based on allegations made by two complainants, but was discharged from the charges related to the sixth complainant. The city court had also charged former WFI assistant co-accused Vinod Tomar with criminal intimidation.
