A Delhi court on Tuesday sought a response from the minor wrestler and her father on the final report filed by Delhi police, recommending cancellation of the Pocso case against the BJP parliamentarian and outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment.
The case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, based on a now-withdrawn complaint from a minor wrestler and her father, entails a fast-tracked trial and a prison term of up to seven years on conviction.
Additional sessions judge Chhavi Kapoor on Tuesday issued notice to the victim and complainant (her father) during in-chamber proceedings and directed them to file their response to the police report by August 1, when the court will further hear the matter.
“Based on the response it gets from the victim and her father, the court may take a call on whether to accept the police’s closure report or direct further investigation,” said a trial court lawyer.
On June 15, Delhi police filed a chargesheet against Singh in a sexual harassment case involving six women wrestlers but recommended the cancellation of the Pocso case against him before a trial court, citing “no corroborative evidence”.
The chargesheet relates to an FIR filed against Singh by six adult women wrestlers. It invokes the Indian Penal Code’s sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking).
The minor’s statement was first recorded before a magistrate in the first week of May, in which she alleged sexual assault by Singh. In June, her father had withdrawn the complaint saying it was false and had been filed in anger at Singh for discrimination against his daughter.
However, a newspaper later quoted the father as saying he had been threatened by people whose names he could not reveal and that his family was “living in intense fear”.
Some of the country’s top wrestlers, who were demanding Singh’s arrest, had also alleged an atmosphere of fear and intimidation and said there was “huge pressure” on them to “compromise”.
