Outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused in the case of alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers, told a Delhi court on Wednesday that hugging or touching a woman without sexual intent is not a crime. Opposing the framing of charges against him, Singh, through his lawyer, said this in front of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjit Singh Jaspal.
The court on Wednesday began hearing arguments on whether charges should be framed against Singh, co-accused and suspended WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar. On behalf of Singh, his lawyer Rajeev Mohan told the court that these allegations are very old. He said, “These artificial grounds that I (complainant) was in danger will not stand. If you (complainant) are roaming freely and haven’t come forward for five years and then you are saying that you are in danger, that is not a valid explanation.”
The counsel submitted that this court does not have jurisdiction to try the matter as “the offense is alleged to have been committed outside India”. He said, “If we take these allegations, Indian jurisdiction comes only in three allegations. Offenses committed outside India cannot be tried in the absence of sanction. Two crimes are related to Ashok Road and Siri Fort. The crime of Siri Fort is one of embracing….It is not a crime to touch a woman without any criminal force or sexual intent.”
Mohan said, “Wrestling is such a program where most of the coaches are men. There are hardly any female coaches. If someone is hugging a player out of happiness after some achievement, then it cannot come under the category of crime. The program is such that if a male coach hugs a player out of concern, it is not a crime.” The court will continue the hearing on Thursday as well. The metropolitan court had granted bail to Singh and Tomar on July 20 but imposed conditions on them not to leave the country without prior permission of the court and not to induce any witness.
On June 15, the Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against six-time MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh under relevant sections of the IPC.
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