Protests against the WFI President Singh swelled over the weekend as farmer unions and more supporters joined in to demand the arrest of Singh, who is charged under provisions relating to sexual harassment, stalking and aggravated sexual assault on a minor.
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WOMEN wrestlers and their supporters protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi gave a 14-day ultimatum for the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Two first information reports (FIRs) were registered against Singh at the Connaught Place police station in New Delhi on April 28: one, under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and Section 34 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the other under Section 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. However, he is yet to be arrested by the Delhi Police.
The announcement by the protesting wrestlers came soon after a two-member delegation of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, led by Sports Authority of India Director General Sandip Pradhan met representatives of the protestors at the site of the demonstration yesterday. Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, the popular faces of the demonstration due to having won accolades in several prestigious international tournaments such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and World Wrestling Championships, were not part of the meeting, preferring instead to send a nine-member committee of coaches and former players.
Apart from Singh’s arrest based on the two FIRs registered against him, the protestors have demanded disallowing any person from Singh’s family to be involved in the functioning of the WFI. Singh’s son, Karan Bhushan Singh, has been one of the vice presidents of the WFI since 2019, and by virtue a member of the executive committee.
Ironically, the WFI webpage listing the executive committee members features a photograph of Punia in a wrestling bout.
The nine-member committee representing the protestors reportedly insisted that any assurance given by the government or its delegates must be provided to it in writing. “We have decided that we will not take any false assurance from the government this time,” The Tribune quoted a source who was involved in the deliberations.
The meeting lasted for over two hours, with many coaches also showing videos of alleged abuses suffered by them as well as the referees at the hands of Singh. “It took this long as everybody had to say something to the officials. Some also showed videos of his (Singh’s) rude behaviour,” another source told The Tribune.
Support from outside
Representatives of several farmers’ unions, including the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Bharat Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), and more than a hundred khap panchayats from Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have expressed their solidarity with the protest.
A number of SKM leaders and members visited the protest site at Jantar Mantar on Sunday and expressed solidarity with the wrestlers, who have been staging a sit-in against Singh since April 23. SKM, a coalition of over 40 farmer unions, constituted during the landmark farmers’ protest of 2020–21, announced a nation-wide agitation in support of protesting wrestlers on Saturday.
Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, “The government should prepare for a long haul. We will not back down until the wrestlers get justice. Members from each khap will join the protest daily and return home by the evening.” He added that the wrestlers’ advisory committee would take care of the protest while the unions would extend outside support.
“We have scheduled a meeting for May 21. If the government does not offer a resolution, we will devise our next strategy,” Tikait added.
Addressing the allegations that farmer unions may be using the present demonstration to air their own grievances against the government, Vinesh Phogat said, “No one has hijacked our protest, it is just that people have joined us in our fight against injustice. These people respect us and care for our dignity.”
More than 500 personnel, including women, from agencies such as the Rapid Action Force, the Delhi Police and the Central Reserve Police Force have been deployed at Jantar Mantar.
Delhi and Haryana police have made extensive security arrangements on the Tikri–Bahadurgarh border and other routes leading to Delhi in view of the call given by khap panchayats and farmer unions to reach the protest site.
Activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) staged a protest at the Tikri border after being stopped from entering the capital. “We announced we would reach Delhi on May 7 to support the wrestlers’ protest, but the Delhi Police stopped us by putting up barricades on the Tikri border. We entered Delhi after breaking the barricades,” one of the women protesters was quoted by The Tribune as saying.
‘Character assassination of a self-respecting person’: Singh in video
In a video released yesterday, shot in a moving car, Singh urged farmer leaders not to make the “mistake” of extending solidarity with protesting wrestlers and instead wait for the outcome of the probe into the allegations against him.
In the 25-minute video, Singh alleged that he was targeted for introducing reforms in the selection process for wrestlers by ensuring that every wrestler had to go through trials. “Due to this, their problems have increased,” he said, referring to the complainants in the case.
“If the character of a self-respecting person is assassinated, then he himself dies. This is what is happening today. The ones for whom I have done everything have put everything I have at stake,” Singh averred at one point in the video.
Possible punishment
As noted above, Singh is charged under Sections relating to assault or criminally force to woman with intent to outrage modesty), sexual harassment, stalking and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code, and to aggravated sexual assault of the POCSO Act.
A conviction for assaulting or using criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage modesty is punishable by imprisonment of a term of not less than one year but which may extend to five years, and fine.
A conviction for sexual harassment is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and with or without fine; unless it is for making sexually coloured remarks, which attracts a lower penalty.
Stalking is punishable with imprisonment for a period that may extend to five years, and with fine.
Meanwhile, a conviction for aggravated sexual assault on a minor attracts an imprisonment of not less than five years, which may extend to seven years, in addition to fine.
Supreme Court proceedings closed
The Supreme Court on May 4 had closed the proceedings instituted on a petition filed by three women wrestlers, stating that the purpose of the petition has been fulfilled with the registration of the two FIRs against Singh.
The Delhi Police, represented by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, had opposed the continuation of the proceedings before the Supreme Court. “If at every stage … the complaints come here, it would not serve the ends of justice… We are doing our best neutrally, completely impartially and independently.”
However, senior advocate Narender Hooda, appearing for three of the seven complainants, raised an objection to the closing of proceedings. “Keeping in view the conduct of Delhi Police from April 21 till date,” he had requested the court to have the probe monitored either by a retired Supreme Court or high court judge “because I’m sure, without any confusion, that the moment these proceedings are disposed of, the Delhi Police will drag its feet.”
The court, however, had clarified that for seeking any further relief, the petitioners must either move the judicial magistrate presiding over the trial, or the Delhi High Court under Article 226 (power of high courts to issue writs) of the Constitution or Section 482 (inherent powers of high courts) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.
Women wrestlers and allied individuals continue to sit in at Jantar Mantar and at other places to demand Singh’s arrest so that an investigation and trial against him could take place fairly and without influence.
