Bharatiya Janata Party MP and former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in the sexual harassment case filed against him by women wrestlers, reported The Indian Express.
The case against Singh pertains to the sexual harassment of six women wrestlers. The Delhi Police registered a first information report against him in April 2023, following the intervention of the Supreme Court. On June 15, the police filed a 1,000-page chargesheet against him.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot had on May 10 ordered to frame charges of sexual harassment and “outraging modesty of women” against Singh.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Rajpoot asked Singh if he pleaded guilty. He responded: “There is no question. Why would I commit to a mistake I did not commit?”
While ordering to frame charges against Singh, the court had noted that abuse of dominant position, continued perception of threat to victims, premeditated design and sexual exploitation of vulnerable female subordinates formed part of a “pattern” with respect to the charges against Singh, reported The Indian Express.
It also said that there was a clear “unity of purpose” or “unity of thought” behind the BJP MP’s actions to “sexually exploit vulnerable female subordinates as much as possible”.
The court also said that there is sufficient material against Singh for him to be charged with criminal intimidation in the allegations made by two complainants.
The Delhi Police had filed the chargesheet on June 15 last year against Singh months after India’s top wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, had launched protests seeking his arrest.
The police, in the first information report, alleged that Singh demanded sexual favours in exchange for professional help from at least two female wrestlers, as well as harassed over half a dozen players.
On May 2, the BJP dropped Singh from the Kaiserganj Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh and nominated his son Karan Bhushan Singh as its candidate for the general elections.
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Despite wrestlers’ courage, a culture of fear grips Indian sport
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