Delhi court seeks status report from police over FIRs lodged against WFI chief

New Delhi, May 10 (PTI) A Delhi court on Wednesday sought a status report from the city police by May 12 on the action taken on the FIRs registered against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjit Singh Jaspal issued notice to the Delhi Police on a plea moved by the wrestlers seeking monitoring of the investigation and recording of the statement of the alleged victims before the court.

The court will further hear the matter on May 12.

The application claimed police have done nothing after registering the FIRs on April 28.

“Police are not ready to conduct any inquiry. Not even the statements of the victims have been recorded before the court by the police,” the petition claimed.

The copies of two FIRs against Singh were also produced in the court in a sealed cover. While one FIR was registered under the POCSO Act for alleged sexual harassment of a minor girl, another was lodged for claimed sexual harassment of the other six complainants.

The women wrestlers had approached the Supreme Court with their complaints following which the FIRs were registered.

In accordance with the Supreme Court order, the statements of the victims were ought to have been recorded before the court within 24 hours of registration of the FIRs, the counsel for the wrestlers claimed. However, the statements were recorded three days after the FIRs were lodged, the lawyer said.

He claimed it has been alleged that an officer in the Sports Ministry called the husband of one of the wrestlers and asked him to settle the matter. The counsel also alleged that another official of a state wrestling body approached the coach and family of the victim to get the matter settled.

“That person said that the girls have made a mistake. He said meet Neta ji (Singh), he will settle the matter,” the counsel claimed.

A host of top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat resumed a sit-in at Jantar Mantar on April 23 demanding the arrest of Singh.

The wrestlers, who have won awards at international competitions, have been demanding that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated the sexual harassment charges against the WFI chief.