The jurisdiction of the highest court of the country has been invoked by the complainants seeking justice in a sexual harassment complaint.
Sexual harassment allegations levied by top Indian wrestlers against Federation chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh reached the SC on Tuesday, 25 April 2023. A day ago, seven women wrestlers had moved the top court alleging non-registration of FIR on their sexual harassment charges. The Supreme Court, while agreeing to take up the case, has issued notice and asked the Delhi Police to file its response by Friday.
In January this year, many renowned Indian wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, had accused Singh and WFI coaches of sexually harassing female grapplers. They sat on dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, and reached out to the Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Anurag Thakur for justice. After two meetings with wrestlers, the formation of an ‘Oversight Committee’ to look into complaints of wrestlers was announced by on 24 January. However, no findings have been made public by the ‘Oversight committee’ which was originally supposed to submit their report on 23 February. The wrestlers returned to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday, 23 April following the lack of any follow-up by the Sports Ministry. As the protests continue, the case has now reached the Supreme Court.
A complaint has also been filed with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). Responding to it, DCW chief Swati Maliwal issued a notice on 23 April to the Delhi Police saying, “Several women including a minor have alleged that the accused person has indulged in the crime of sexual harassment against them during his tenure at the helm of Wrestling Federation of India. Instead of an FIR being filed in the matter, some of the complainants and their family members have started getting phone calls enquiring about the identities of the complainants from an IPS officer posted in the Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS),” the notice issued by the DCW chief stated.
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