Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 7: A Delhi court has summoned BJP MP and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Chief Brij Bhushan Singh in connection with sexual harassment claims made against him by the nation’s top female wrestlers.
Six female wrestlers have levelled accusations of intimidation and sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Singh.
Brij Bhushan Singh was sent a summons by the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi after it acknowledged the case’s chargesheet.
He is required to show up in court on July 18. Vinod Tomar, Brij Bhushan Singh’s assistant secretary, has also received a summons from the court.
On June 2, Delhi Police lodged two FIRs and 10 complaints in response to claims of sexual harassment made against Brij Bhushan Singh by wrestlers. The allegations against the WFI chief included his efforts at inappropriate touching, including laying his hand over girls’ chests, sliding it to their backs, and chasing them.
Brij Bhushan Singh, a six-term member of parliament, was charged by the city police on June 15 with violating sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC as well as 354D (stalking) and 354A (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).
Tomar was charged of violating IPC sections 354, 354A, 506 (criminal intimidation) and 109 (abetment of any offence, if the act abetted is committed in consequence, and where no express provision is made for its punishment).
Seven female wrestlers, one a minor, filed separate allegations of criminal intimidation and sexual harassment against Singh on April 21. The wrestlers had moved the Supreme Court stating that the police were not registering the FIRs. On April 28, police subsequently filed two FIRs. Later, in a new statement made before a magistrate, the minor and her father—the complainant—withdrew their accusations against Singh.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has vehemently refuted all claims of sexual misbehaviour and even issued a statement in that regard.