New Delhi: Delhi Police has decided to register a first information report (FIR) against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, based on sexual harassment complaints filed by seven wrestlers, the Supreme Court was told Friday.
Appearing for the Delhi Police, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said: “We (Delhi Police) have decided to register FIR, we will do it today [Friday]. Nothing else survives.”
The solicitor made his submission before a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. CHandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha, when it took up a petition filed by the wrestlers, seeking a direction to the police to take action on their complaints. One of the petitioners in the case is a 16-year-old wrestler.
On Friday senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the wrestlers, claimed the minor was under threat and faced serious apprehension to her life. Hence, she had been sent out of Delhi as she was not safe in the national capital. Sibal also said that there are close to 40 complaints against the MP and asked the court to let a retired judge monitor the probe.
Mehta, however, opposed the plea and said that once an FIR is filed, the criminal procedure code (CrPc) takes its own course.
After taking note of the submission and the apprehension raised over the minor girl’s safety, the court directed the Delhi Police commissioner to make an assessment of the threat perception to her and provide adequate security. For the other complaints, the CJI asked the commissioner to carry out a similar exercise and take a decision accordingly.
The court then asked the Delhi Police to file an affidavit with regard to security arrangements by next Friday.
When Mehta asked the bench to clarify in its order that the next hearing would only be in the context of security for the complainants, the judges declined to do so. Mehta was of the view that the court cannot continue with the hearing since the petitioners’ request for registration of the FIR had been taken care of.
However, the bench asked Mehta to wait for the next hearing. “We are not saying anything in our order or constituting any special task force today [Friday]. Let us see the situation and wait for a little while,” the court remarked.
‘Report not allowed to be signed or looked at’
A group of top, award-winning wrestlers had first gone on protest against Singh in January, alleging sexual harassment by him of women wrestlers, and demanding his removal as WFI president.
The protest had ended only when the Sports Authority of India (SAI), and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) stepped in to look into the allegations raised against Singh. The sports ministry constituted an oversight committee (OC) chaired by Olympian Mary Kom to probe the matter and also manage the day-to-day functioning of the WFI. Singh was asked to “step aside” from the post he had held since 2011.
Sources had earlier told ThePrint that the OC had submitted its report this month, but it has not been made public yet. This is what prompted the second ongoing protest, with the wrestlers demanding an FIR against Singh.
On 26 April, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Delhi Police, seeking the latter’s response to the wrestlers’ petition which alleged inaction on the agency’s part was in complete violation of the law settled by the SC that mandates investigating agencies to register an FIR on getting a complaint revealing commission of a cognisable offence.
It also claimed that since Bhushan is a BJP MP and powerful politician, that’s the reason why no FIR had been registered against him, as the political system is giving him protection from being probed over the serious charges made by athletes who have won laurels for the country on international sporting platforms. One of the petitioners in the case is a 16-year-old wrestler.
On Friday, Sibal rebutted Mehta’s submission that once an FIR is filed, the criminal procedure code (CrPc) takes its own course, and informed the bench that the alleged harassment has been going on since 2016 and an oral complaint was then made to the authorities.
A formal complaint was made in January 2023, yet the federation did not act upon it, he said.
“It (federation) set up a committee (which reportedly gave Singh a clean chit), but its report is not allowed to be signed or looked at [sic],” Sibal said, adding, even the ministry and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) did nothing.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)