Delhi court orders framing of charges against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in sexual harassment case – Firstpost

In an important moment for Indian wrestling, a Delhi court on Friday ordered framing of charges against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case filed by six wrestlers.

While Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court ordered framing of charges against Brij Bhushan in the sexual harassment cases filed by five wrestlers, it acquitted him of the allegations filed by the sixth complainant.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot also ordered framing of charges against co-accused and former WFI deputy secretary Vinod Tomar in the case. The court will formally formulate the charges on May 21.

Reacting to the development, Brij Bhushan said he “welcomes the court’s decision”.

“Today the court framed charges, the charge sheet was filed before, which I had protested but the court did not accept. Now they have made accusations in all but one case. I welcome the court’s decision and now options are open for me,” said Brij Bhushan, whose tenure as WFI president ended after the Center dissolved the executive committee he headed in April of the last year.

Brij Bhushan found himself in the eye of the storm during the wrestlers’ protest last year, during which several wrestlers waged a campaign against him, alleging that he had sexually harassed several female athletes.

Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia and two-time world championship bronze medalist Vinesh Phogat were the faces of the protest that started at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and later spread across the national capital as well as to other cities and even villages of Haryana.

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The unrest occurred briefly in January and gained momentum during April and May. It was then called off in June after Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur spoke to the protesting wrestlers and promised a speedy probe into the allegations against Brij Bhushan.

Although Brij Bhushan is no longer in a position of power within the WFI and his family members are also barred from running for positions within the organization, it is widely believed that he continues to have influence on the Indian struggle through his close collaborator Sanjay Singh, who had been elected new president of the WFI in December.