A Delhi Court ordered the framing of sexual harassment charges against BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Saran Singh on Friday. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Priyanka Rajpoot also discharged Singh in a complaint filed by one of the six women wrestlers.
“This court has found sufficient material on record to frame charges against accused no. 1 Brij Bhushan Saran Singh for the offences under Section 354 (outraging modesty of woman) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code regarding victims no. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5,” the court order reportedly read.
It will formally frame the charges on May 21. Charges will be framed also against Vinod Tomar, who is the accused number two in the case, under Section 506 part 1 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) regarding victim no 1. He was reportedly discharged of the remaining offences, Live Law said in a report. Tomar is a former assistant secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India.
In April the judge had dismissed Singh’s application seeking further investigation in the case. Brij Bhushan Saran Singh claimed that he was not in India on the date in question, Live Law reported. The order comes not long after the BJP decided to replace Brij Bhushan Singh with his son Karan Bhushan Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj constituency.
The Delhi Police in June last year had filed a chargesheet against Bhushan for alleged sexual harassment, assault and stalking of six women wrestlers. In its 1,500-page chargesheet, police had mentioned statements of at least 22 witnesses from across four states, including wrestlers, a referee, a coach and a physiotherapist, who have corroborated the allegations made by the six women wrestlers against Singh.
The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet in the case against Singh, a six-time MP, on June 15 under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.