Supreme Court to hear wrestlers' charges against WFI president on April 28

The wrestlers have levelled serious charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and other members of the WFI.

The Supreme court on Tuesday characterised the sexual harassment charges levelled against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh “serious,” and issued a notice to the Delhi Police in the case.

The charges made by the wrestlers were serious and deserved the court's consideration, said a bench presided over by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. After sending a notice to the appropriate authorities, it ordered that the matter be listed on Friday.

Wrestlers, including Olympic medallists, petitioned the court on Monday to file a case against Singh over the claims, rejecting the Sports Ministry's offer to negotiate.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal moved for an urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. He said that the wrestlers were protesting. “The police are doing nothing.” Consider the allegations, “even police officers can be prosecuted for failing to file an FIR."

Sibal stated that because the incident contained sexual harassment, the police were required to file a report.

The wrestlers, led by Olympic Medallist Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Worlds medallist Vinesh Phogat, resumed their protest on Sunday. They claimed they had filed a complaint against WFI president Singh at Connaught Place police station in New Delhi late last week, but the police declined to initiate an FIR.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Sakshi said, “We made a complaint at CP police station. It’s been two days, but no FIR has been filed. Seven women, including a juvenile, filed complaints. It appears to be a POCSO case, but nothing has been done.”

This happened three months after they first protested at Jantar Mantar on January 18. There, they accused Singh and the federation of sexual exploitation, mental abuse, death threats, and money embezzlement, among other things.

Following that, the Sports Ministry intervened and formed an inquiry committee to both probe the wrestlers’ complaints and take over the day-to-day operations of the WFI. At that time the wrestler expressed their dissatisfaction with the government's failure to contact them before constituting the oversight committee. The committee’s report submission date has been extended from four weeks to six weeks.

Singh, a six-time MP, has dismissed the wrestler’s ongoing protest as a publicity stunt at the behest of those whose careers have ended and cannot win medals anymore.