Brij Bhushan liable to be prosecuted for stalking, molesting: Delhi police officer

The Delhi police filed charges of sexual harassment, stalking and outraging the modesty of six female athletes by wrestling federation president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on June 15

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is liable to be prosecuted for offences of sexual harassment, molestation and stalking according to the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police on June 15, a senior Delhi Police officer said on Tuesday.

Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh leaving his house after a visit by the Special Investigation Team at his New Delhi residence in June (AP File)

Singh, who has headed the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for 12 years, has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC)’s sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking). His aide, Vinod Tomar, has been charged under sections 109 (abetment), 354, 354A, and 506 (criminal intimidation).

A conviction under section 354 carries a maximum jail term of five years, three years under section 354A and three years under section 354D.

The officer said investigators found evidence to charge Brij Bhushan Sharan under sections relating to the use of criminal force to outrage modesty and sexual harassment in complaints by four woman wrestlers. In the other two cases, the officer stressed that there was evidence to charge the WFI chief for allegedly use of force to outrage the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment and stalking.

“In the 1,082-page charge sheet against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Vinod Tomar have made accused in column number 11. Column 11 in the chargesheet clearly means the investigators have found evidence against the accused. But as the maximum punishment is of five years in the present case and a Supreme Court judgment says that it is not mandatory to arrest the accused in cases where punishment is less than seven years, we have not arrested them,” the officer cited above said on reports that investigators have found witnesses who corroborated allegations levelled by six women wrestlers.

Police earlier said that four of the six women athletes also provided audio and visual evidence to corroborate their allegations.

A second police officer stressed that the June 15 document filed by the police was a charge sheet, and not the final report. “So, whatever the investigators get after filing the primary charge sheet, will certainly be included in the supplementary charge sheet/s. Also, the forensic reports of digital evidence such as photos, videos, and audio have not been obtained yet from the laboratories...we may include their findings in the supplementary charge sheet,” said the officer, who asked not to be named.

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia, and double World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat led protests, which first began in January, to registration of a case against Singh and his arrest for allegedly harassing the women wrestlers. They suspended their agitation on June 7 after camping at Jantar Mantar for 38 days after the police evicted them.

The outgoing WFI chief and the federation’s suspended assistant secretary Vinod Tomar have been summoned by additional chief metropolitan magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal on the next date of hearing on July 18. The court took cognisance of the charge sheet and summoned the two accused, underlining that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against him.