Allegations Against Brij Bhushan False, Political Conspiracy: Delhi Court

The allegations against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case filed by six women wrestlers, were "false and fabricated" and a part of "deep conspiracy which seems to be politically motivated," the Delhi court observed on Monday as it acquitted the former BJP MP.The court observed that the allegations against Singh appeared to be rehearsed, well-practised and planted.Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwini Panwar of the Rouse Avenue Courts on Monday acquitted not only Bhushan but also former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar.These observations were made in the order copy which is yet to be made public by court.NDTV has learnt that the court order noted that these allegations were made collectively at the instance of a female and a male wrestler along with coaches at Mahadev Academy, the wrestling training centre in Haryana's Rohtak."What has been transpired from the record is that before sitting on dharna, there were no allegation of sexual harassment by PW5 and no name of any female wrestler who had faced alleged sexual harassment had been mentioned. Then, the female wrestlers who were selected came forward and same/similar allegations were incorporated in the tailormade formal complaints drafted in a fancy manner with similar excessive decoration and the same were filed on April 21, 2023 before the police," the court said, referring to one of the prosecution witnesses or PW.The court also relied on the statements of the two wrestlers who had initially complained of sexual harassment but later turned hostile. The court found their statements more credible."To say this, I draw strength from the fact that out of the five survivors on whose allegation charges were framed against the accused, two have not supported the case of the prosecution, and they stated that they were forced/pressured to give their statements at the instance of PW5 and PW10. Nothing has been proved by the prosecution which shows that these two survivors did not support the case of the prosecution due to any overt act attributable to the accused," the court said in its order.In its order, the trial court in the national capital said there seemed to be similarities in the pattern of allegations made against the accused. It said the alleged incidents surfaced at a time when the survivors were participating in a tournament, that the incidents allegedly happened in a place where large crowds including family and friends of the sportspersons had gathered.The court said that after going through all the allegations, testimonies of the victims as well as the witnesses who supported the prosecution story, the attending circumstances in which the alleged offences were committed, the conduct of the complainants post incident, the material improvements as well as material contradictions, it found the testimony of the complainants who did not support the prosecution story "credible enough" and "more than sufficient to create reasonable doubt in my mind to discredit the prosecution story."Flagging the delay in filing the complaints, the court said that the allegations against Bhushan appear to be imperfect to be true, seem rehearsed and well-practiced as well as planted.The court further pointed out that these allegations were strikingly similar, made at the same time at a common place, which indicated meticulous planning against the accused. It said the address of PW10 (the male wrestler) was mentioned in the complaint and statements given by hostile witnesses, which indicated they were tutored to say certain statements in the presence of PW10.During the proceedings on Monday, senior lawyer Rebecca John, who appeared for four of the women, described the acquittal as "deeply, deeply disturbing".After the court relief, Singh told reporters he had been saying from the beginning that he would "hang" himself if the allegations were true. "I said on the very first day that if the allegations are true, I will hang myself. I am very happy that I have been acquitted. It is good news for me and good news for my supporters. I cannot say anything more than that," Singh said outside the courtroom.The media was barred from the in-camera proceedings.The allegations surfaced in April-May 2023 when women wrestlers protested at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, accusing the former WFI of sexually harassing women wrestlers.Top women wrestlers along with Bajrang Punia were the face of the 36-day protest.