NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday acquitted former BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the sexual harassment case filed by women wrestlers. Suspended WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar was also acquitted. Additional chief judicial magistrate Ashwini Panwar pronounced the verdict during in-camera proceedings. The defence later termed it an “honourable acquittal”. “Noting that both accused are honourably acquitted, the court observed that the unexplained delay, inconsistencies, contradictions on major issues, and the post-incident conduct of all the complainants made their version highly unbelievable,” Singh’s counsel, Rajiv Mohan, said after the verdict.Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat told TOI, “We will get the judgment tomorrow. We will examine it and take appropriate steps before the higher courts accordingly.” The case stemmed from complaints by several women wrestlers alleging that Singh sexually harassed them between 2016 and 2019 at the WFI office, his official residence, and during foreign trips. The allegations triggered months-long protests in New Delhi in 2023 by prominent wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sangeeta Phogat, who demanded Singh’s arrest. Following the Supreme Court’s intervention in May 2023, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Singh. The Sports Ministry had also constituted an oversight committee to conduct an internal inquiry into the allegations. On June 15, 2023, Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against Singh under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment, including sexually coloured remarks), 354D (stalking), and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. Tomar was booked under Section 109 (abetment). On May 10, 2024, the trial court framed charges of sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of women against Singh in connection with the complaints of five women wrestlers, while discharging him in the complaint filed by a sixth wrestler. Tomar was charged under Section 506(1) for alleged criminal intimidation in connection with one complainant and discharged from the remaining allegations. Singh had maintained that the investigation was biased and based solely on the versions of the complainants, whom he alleged were seeking “revenge”. He argued that the chargesheet ignored what he described as the falsehood of the accusations. In May last year, another Delhi court accepted a closure report filed by Delhi Police in the complaint of a wrestler who was a minor when she made the allegations, after the police said they found “no corroborative evidence”.
