Wrestlers’ sexual harassment: HC asks Delhi Police to reply to Brij Bhushan’s plea for early hearing

PTI, Oct 18, 2024, 12:08 PM IST

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response of the city police and wrestlers on a plea by former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh seeking early hearing of his petition to quash an FIR lodged against him by several women wrestlers.

Singh has sought preponement of the date of hearing in the main petition which is listed on January 13, 2025, on the grounds that the matter is at the stage of recording prosecution evidence in the trial court and by the time the case will come up before the high court, most of the witnesses will be examined.

Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri issued notice to the Delhi Police and the wrestlers on the application in which Singh has also urged the high court to direct the trial court not to proceed in the criminal case till disposal of his pending petition.

The high court asked the police and the wrestlers to file their replies to the application and listed it for hearing on December 16.

During the brief hearing, Singh, represented by advocate Rajiv Mohan, submitted that being a special court, the trial court is fixing the matter on a weekly basis and one of the victims has already been examined.

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

The high court had earlier issued notice and sought response of the police and the wrestlers on Singh’s petition seeking quashing of the FIR and charges framed against him in the sexual harassment case lodged by several women wrestlers.

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

The Delhi Police filed an FIR against him after the intervention of the Supreme Court in May 2023.

After a trial court framed charges of sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the modesty of women against the former lawmaker on May 21, Singh approached the high court in August claiming that he has been falsely implicated and no offence as alleged by the prosecution has been committed by him.

Singh, in his plea, has contended that the investigation was done in a biased manner as only the version of the victims, who were interested in taking ‘revenge’ on him, was considered. He said the charge sheet was filed before the trial court without taking care of the falsehood of allegation.

The petition has stated that the ongoing proceedings in the trial court pursuant to the FIR are against the natural principles of law and justice as each alleged incident is a “standalone offence” and does not “cumulatively form a continuous sequence of events or a part of a single transaction”.

It also said that some allegations even refer to incidents that took place beyond the jurisdiction of India.

Earlier, police submitted in the high court that the petition was not maintainable.

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