4 women wrestlers challenge ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan’s acquittal in sessions court
New Delhi: Four women wrestlers on Friday moved a sessions court to challenge a magistrate's order acquitting former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case.
The petition also challenges the acquittal of former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar on the charge of criminal intimidation in the same matter.
On 3 August, the magisterial court acquitted Singh, a former Bharatiya Janata Party MP and ex-chief of the WFI, in the case brought by six women wrestlers, including World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat, citing a lack of evidence. The court also acquitted Tomar alongside Singh.
According to the plea submitted on Friday, the acquittal order was "erroneous and unsustainable in law".
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh is expected to hear the matter on Saturday.
Previously, the magisterial court's ruling highlighted that two of the five complaining wrestlers had testified they were "forced/pressured" into making allegations of sexual harassment against Singh.
The judgment noted that their testimonies indicated the allegations were politically motivated, "false and fabricated, made collectively" as part of a deep conspiracy. The court also raised questions regarding how the complainants cited the "wrong country and year" for the first alleged incident, concluding that "the contradiction is fatal to the prosecution case" because "it is not difficult but rather abnormal conduct to not remember the place where the incident of sexual harassment had occurred".
While the complaining wrestlers stated they refrained from lodging timely allegations out of concern for their careers, the 239-page judgment observed that "it is not understandable" how they maintained "cordial relations" with Singh over several years, noting that "he was invited to family functions and wedding ceremonies by the victims".
The magisterial court acquitted Singh of all charges under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), and 506 (I) (criminal intimidation). Tomar was acquitted under IPC Section 506 (Part I).
The verdict emphasised that the prosecution failed to prove that the two victims turned hostile or failed to support the case as a result of any overt action attributable to the accused.
The court noted that the two wrestlers, who had been treated as victims from the outset of the proceedings, appeared before the court and, following counselling, explicitly admitted that no acts of sexual harassment had been committed against them.
PTI