A Delhi court on Tuesday formally charged BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), with sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the modesty of women in the case related to women wrestlers.
Singh pleaded not guilty to these charges. When asked by the court whether he accepted his mistake and pleaded guilty, Singh replied, “Iska koi sawaal hi nahi. Galti kiya hi nahi”. (No question of pleading guilty. I haven’t done anything wrong).
Co-accused Vinod Tomar, former WFI assistant secretary, also pleaded not guilty to the same offences. As a result of the two accused denying they had engaged in criminal activity, the matter will go to trial.
The Delhi court ordered framing of charges after five women wrestlers accused him of various incidents of harassment. The court said that there was sufficient material on record to frame charges against Singh for the offences punishable under Indian Penal Code’s sections 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354A (sexual harassment). The court also stated that there was sufficient material on record to frame charges against Singh for the offence punishable under IPC Section 506(1) for criminal intimidation in respect of two women wrestlers.
Recurring pattern
“By viewing these individual acts/offences through the lens of a continuing violation law, it is evident that the acts of accused no. 1 (Singh) reflect a systematic and recurring pattern,” the court said in a 125-page order.
“These are not isolated incidents but collectively form a continuing offence, demonstrating both the egregiousness and ongoing nature of the violations of sections 354 and 354A of IPC.”
The court further noted that according to the allegations made against Singh, the offence of criminal intimidation punishable under Section 506 of IPC committed by him had “a direct nexus with sexual offences, which justify a joint trial in the present case”.
The court also charged co-accused Tomar with the offence of criminal intimidation in the case filed by one of the women wrestlers.
The court, however, discharged Singh of all charges in respect to the case related to victim number 6, whose accusations date back to 2012. The MP has also not been charged with the offence of stalking (Section 354D of IPC).
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