New Delhi: The Delhi Rouse Avenue court on Friday ordered the framing of charges against the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh, in the sexual harassment case levelled by six female wrestlers.
The court has said there are sufficient materials to proceed with the trial against him. However, Brij Bhushan who has been consistently denying all the allegations welcomed the order, affirming that he was “ready to face it”.
The case was filed by six female wrestlers. Meanwhile, the court framed charges against the BJP leader in the case of sexual harassment of five female wrestlers, acquitting in the allegations levelled by the sixth.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot said, “This court has also found sufficient material on record to frame charges against accused no. 1 Brij Bhushan Singh for the offences under Section 506 Part 1 of IPC with respect to victims no.1 and 5.”
The court has ordered the framing of charges against Brij Bhushan under sections 354 (outraging a woman’s modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against under these sections and one additional section – 354D (stalking) – on June 15 last year.
The court also ordered that charges be framed against Vinod Tomar, former assistant secretary of the Federation, under section 506. The next hearing is scheduled for May 21.
Friday’s court order comes days after the BJP decided not to repeat Brij Bhushan, who is the party MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, as the candidate from the constituency and decided to field his son Karan Bhushan Singh instead.
