New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday issued a notice to Delhi Police, seeking a first information report (FIR) against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and member of Parliament (MP) from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The court order follows protest by a group of wrestlers who have raised sexual harassment allegations against Singh.
Singh had been the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) since 2011, before being relieved of the charge earlier this year, after the allegations against him were first raised.
The wrestlers had also reportedly accused the six-time Lok Sabha MP of physical abuse, dictatorial functioning and financial irregularities in the management of WFI.
While the Supreme Court will hear the matter on 28 April, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia have been leading a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar again since Sunday.
This is the second time this year that the wrestlers have gone on protest against Singh.
The first protest was in January and 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.
After the formation of the OC, Singh was asked to “step aside” .
While Singh has lately kept mum, in January, the MP had also denied the allegations against him and claimed them to be politically motivated. He had accused the protesters of being pawns of the Congress.
The OC was supposed to complete its probe within four weeks, but took almost three months to submit its report to the sports ministry. Sources told ThePrint that the report was submitted around the first week of April. There’s been no intimation from the ministry as to when the findings will be made public.
This is what prompted the second protest. According to media reports, the athletes have alleged that they tried calling sports minister Anurag Thakur and members of the OC, but received no response.
Phogat and Punia told the media Sunday that seven women wrestlers, one of them a minor, have filed a police complaint against Singh at Delhi’s Connaught Place police station. However, media reports quoted police officers as saying they have sought the OC report before they file an FIR.
ThePrint looks at the developments so far.
Who is Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh?
Singh started his political career from UP’s Gonda, winning his first Lok Sabha seat in 1991, and then in 1999.
He won the Lok Sabha elections from Balrampur in 2004, and from Kaiserganj in 2009, 2014 and 2019. He has reportedly always been a BJP candidate, except in 2009 when he won the election on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
He was also associated with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, according to media reports.
He has served as the WFI president since 2011, and also as the vice-president of Commonwealth Wrestling Committee.
The MP is, however, not new to controversies and criminal accusations, and according to media reports, has been accused of causing voluntary harm to public servant, robbery, attempt to murder and illegal payments in connection with an election.
Protesters and supporters
Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia are leading the second round of protests.
Phogat is the first Indian woman wrestler to have won a gold both in the Commonwealth and the Asian Games. She has also won multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championship.
Punia and Malik have both won bronze medals for India at the Olympics, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics, respectively. Malik is the first Indian woman to win a medal for wrestling at the Olympics.
During the January protest, the three had been accompanied by others from the fraternity, including Ravi Dahiya, Sarita Mor, and Anshu Malik. Olympian shooter Abhinav Bindra had also tweeted in support of the cause back then.
Punia and Phogat both tweeted a video Monday, asking players from other disciplines, and khaps of Haryana to support them.
Punia also said political parties were welcome to join the departure, in a departure from January, when the wrestlers had asked political leaders to stay away.
As the protest entered its third day Tuesday, it saw support pour in from khap panchayats, some Congress leaders and farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait.
Chaudhary Surender Solanki, chief of the Palam 360 Khap in Delhi, also visited Jantar Mantar Tuesday to extend his support to the wrestlers. He had tweeted his support on the very first day of the protest.
Congress leaders Kapil Sibal, Udit Raj, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat have also come out in support of the protesters.
On Tuesday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Reena Gupta also met the protesters at Jantar Mantar.
Complaints and demands
The identity of the complainants in the sexual harassment allegation has not been revealed.
Phogat has been quoted in the media as saying that the complainants were junior athletes and revealing their identities could ruin their careers. One is a minor.
In one of the press conferences addressed by the protestors, they had also claimed that some of the complainants were national-level athletes, while one was an international-level sportsperson.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the names of the complainants would be censored from judicial records to protect their identities.
During their January protest, the wrestlers had demanded that Singh steps down as the chairperson, and the WFI executive committee be dissolved.
This time around, they are seeking an FIR against Singh. In a press conference Tuesday, Phogat said the protest will continue till Singh is put behind bars.
Also, since one of the complainants is a minor, the wrestlers are demanding action against Singh under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act.
“Filing an FIR won’t be enough for us. The allegations need to be probed and he should be put behind bars if proven guilty,” Phogat has said.
During a press conference at Jantar Mantar Tuesday, Punia also alleged that Dronacharya Awardee coach Mahabir Bishnoi, and a Singh associate Rakesh (identified only by the first name) were threatening the complainants and their families.
He alleged that they were trying to bribe them to cover up the matter.
Has any demand been met?
Following the January protest, the sports ministry constituted an OC to probe the charges. During the probe, Singh was asked to “step aside” from the WFI chief’s post, while the federation’s general secretary, Vinod Tomar, was suspended.
But as mentioned above, the OC first overshot its four-week deadline for submitting the report and even after the report was submitted, the details of the report have not been made public.
After the report was submitted, the WFI resumed its functioning and even organised a wrestling event in UP’s Gonda between 16 and 18 April. Wrestlers protested against the choice of venue — “a Singh stronghold” — at a time the probe report details were still awaited.
According to a government letter tweeted by IOA president P.T. Usha Monday, the Indian Olympic Association was asked to constitute an interim committee to manage the WFI and hold the elections of the latter’s executive committee. Usha added that the IOA will discuss the matter at its executive committee meeting scheduled for Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is set to hear the wrestlers’ appeal Friday. According to media reports, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has told the apex court that a preliminary inquiry would be needed before registering an FIR against Singh.
Govt response
Contrary to January, when sports minister Anurag Thakur had assured the protestors of probe in the matter, there has been no reaction from him yet.
The sports ministry, however, declared the election for a new WFI committee, scheduled on 7 May, null and void in its communication with IOA president P.T. Usha cited above.
SAI deputy director Shiv Sharma visited the protesters Monday to understand their demands. There, Sharma said the SAI had complied with the wrestlers’ demand of dissolving the WFI committee and reforming it. He also tried to convince Phogat to end the protest as their demands were being met, sources told ThePrint.
Phogat had responded that they had lost faith in the system as the SAI, the ministry, the federation, and Singh were hand-in-glove, sources told ThePrint.
On Monday, the protestors had tweeted a photo of spending the night under the open sky. “Podium to footpath! In the hope of justice under the open sky at midnight,” she captioned the image.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)