oppn parties Will The Wrestlers Get Justice?

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

January 22, 2025

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
Will The Wrestlers Get Justice?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-05-10 15:50:26

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

Finally, the trial against former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh can begin. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Delhi's Rouse Avenue court complex, Priyanka Rajpoot, ordered framing of charges against Singh after the court found sufficient material on record to proceed in the matter. Charges will also be framed against Singh's aide and former assistant secretary of WFI, Vinod Tomar.

The court ordered that Singh be charged under sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 354-A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. Tomar will be charged u/s 506. The chargesheet filed by Delhi Police on June 15 last year had mentioned the charge of stalking under section 354D which the court has dropped. The court ordered framing of charges on the allegations of five female wrestlers but discharged him in the allegation by the sixth wrestler.

Since it has taken almost 11 months for framing of charges after the chargesheet was filed, the case must now proceed at a faster speed. Singh was in a position of trust and as the chief of the WFI, it was his duty to mentor and protect the female wrestlers. Instead, as alleged, he became a sexual predator and made their life hell. The worst part is that such is the clout of Singh and his minions that the harassed wrestlers had no one to turn to before senior wrestlers like Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, among others, took up their cause and held dharnas and returned their awards (Malik even quit the sport when Singh's aide Sanjay Singh won the WFI elections) when the government did not pay heed.

The BJP has already denied Singh a ticket from Kaiserganj but it is a measure of his clout that the ticket has gone to his younger son Karan. There are chances that Singh will intimidate witnesses and some of them may turn hostile. The prosecution must build a strong case based on evidence collected and ensure that witnesses stick to their stand in court. Only then will they be able to prove Singh's guilt and ensure justice for the wrestlers.  

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.