‘Erroneous and Unsustainable’: Wrestlers Challenge Brij Bhushan Acquittal
The case was filed by six women wrestlers, including World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, September 25: A magistrate’s decision acquitting former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case was challenged by four women wrestlers before a sessions court on Friday. The plea also challenges the acquittal of former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar on charges of criminal intimidation.
The case was filed by six women wrestlers, including World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat. The magisterial court acquitted Singh, a former BJP MP and former WFI chairman, on August 3, citing a lack of evidence. Tomar was also acquitted.
The plea filed on Friday described the acquittal order as “erroneous and unsustainable in law”.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh is expected to hear the matter on Saturday.
Singh and Tomar acquitted
The magisterial court’s order had noted that two of the five complainant wrestlers said they had been “forced/pressured” to make allegations of sexual harassment against Singh.
According to their statements, the allegations were politically motivated and “false and fabricated, made collectively” as part of a conspiracy. The court observed that the contradictions in the complainants’ accounts were “fatal to the prosecution case”.
The court also questioned discrepancies in the accounts regarding the location and year of the alleged first incident of sexual harassment, observing that it was unusual for a complainant not to remember where such an incident had occurred.
The 239-page order also questioned how the complainant wrestlers could have maintained “cordial relations” with Singh for years, including inviting him to family functions and weddings, if they had feared that he would harm their careers.
Singh and Tomar were acquitted of all charges. Singh was acquitted under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC, while both Singh and Tomar were acquitted under Section 506 (Part I) (criminal intimidation).
The court held that the prosecution had failed to establish that the two complainants, who had initially been portrayed as victims, had suffered sexual harassment through any overt act attributable to the accused.
According to the order, the two wrestlers appeared before the court, underwent counselling and subsequently stated unequivocally that they had not been victims of sexual harassment.
(With Inputs from PTI)
