New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a Cancellation report in the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) case against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Patiala House Court while it also filed a chargesheet in the Rouse Avenue Court in the second FIR pertaining to sexual harassment allegations against the outgoing WFI president. This comes after Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur had last week assured protesting wrestlers that the Delhi Police has been asked to file the chargesheet by June 15, while announcing that the wrestlers had agreed to withdraw all forms of protest till the aforementioned date.
“In the POCSO matter, after completion of investigation, we have submitted a police report under section 173 Cr PC requesting for a cancellation of the case based upon statements of the complainant i.e., the father of the victim and the victim herself,” the Delhi Police said.
The Delhi Police had filed two FIRs against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The first FIR relates to allegations by the minor wrestler and was registered under the POCSO Act while the second is related to outraging modesty. The FIRs narrate several alleged instances of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, groping, stalking and intimidation by Singh at different times and places over a decade.
The date of the hearing on the Cancellation report in the minor’s case is July 4. In it, Delhi Police included the statement of the minor and details of the investigation so far. A Cancellation Report is filed in cases when no corroborative evidence is found.
This comes after the father of the minor wrestler, on whose complaint a case was registered under the POCSO Act, claimed that Brij Bhushan did not sexually harass his daughter, but discriminated against her. In interviews with multiple news platforms, the minor wrestler’s father said that the WFI chief had not sexually harassed his daughter, but his approach was “partial in nature against her”. He said they levelled the charge of sexual harassment out of “anger” and that some of the claims made by them were “false”.
According to sources, the minor wrestler has already withdrawn the allegations of sexual harassment and retracted her statement. The minor had spoken of sexual harassment in her first statement given before the magistrate. In the second statement, however, the minor withdrew the allegation saying, “I was not selected, I had worked very hard. I was in depression, so I had filed a case of sexual harassment in anger.”
