Brij Bhushan touched women wrestlers in sexual manner during training, tourneys: Report

The ongoing protest by wrestlers at Delhi's Jantar Mantar is showing no signs of dying down amid various allegations levelled against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The wrestlers, who have been at the protest site since April 23, have accused Brij Bhushan of multiple incidents of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching and physical contact.

The accusations said Brij Bhushan committed the same during tournaments, warm-up events of wrestlers and even at the Wrestling Federation of India office in New Delhi, a report in The Indian Express said.

The report further said that two out of seven adult female wrestlers lodged a complaint against the WFI chief with Delhi's Connaught Place police station.

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The complaints, which were filed on April 21 listed out as many as 8 incidents against Singh, on record, say how the latter, under the pretext of checking their breathing pattern, touched them in an inappropriate and sexual manner.

Singh has consistently denied the allegations against him, calling them a part of political conspiracy to badmouth him and remove him from his position.

Opposition leaders from Congress including Priyanka Gandhi, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal among others have visited Jantar Mantar to offer support to the agitating wrestlers.

In the first wrestler's complaint, the IE report said, the woman has accused Singh of touching her breasts and stomach at a restaurant during a tournament in 2019 after she was asked by him to join him at his table. The complainant also named yet another incident where Singh did the same to her, this time at the WFI office inside his MP bungalow in Delhi, IE said in the report.

The second wrestler's complaint also listed similar incidents against Singh, one at the WFI office and the second during a tournament where she alleged that Singh lifted her training jersey without her consent saying he wanted to check her breathing pattern.

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The wrestlers have been at the protesting site since April 23.

The wrestlers have alleged that the Delhi Police did not file FIRs initially against Singh, following which they approached the Supreme Court which is when two FIRs were filed against the WFI chief, one POCSO complaint and one on the charges levelled by the adult wrestlers.

In recent developments, the Supreme Court on Thursday did not entertain a plea by the wrestlers who had wanted the cases being probed by the Delhi Police be monitored b a retired SC or High Court judge. "Having due regard to the ambit of the petition and registration of FIRs, we close the proceedings at this stage. The petitioner can move the jurisdictional magistrate or the high court concerned for suitable reliefs," the bench said.

The court noted that the purpose of the petition before it was registration of the FIR. Two FIRs were lodged against Singh by the Delhi police on April 28.

It also took into record that proper security has been provided to the complainants.

Olympian wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and other grapplers, most of whom haili from Haryana, resumed their protest against the WFI chief in Jantar Mantar in Delhi last month following the setting-up of a committee headed by boxing legend M C Mary Kom to probe allegations against Singh.

The wrestlers complained that no action had been taken on their complaints against the WFI chief for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. The committee's report is yet to be made public.