Wrestler made to recreate sexual harassment scene

Wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Sangeeta Phogat during their protest at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi. File Pic/PTI

The Delhi police on Friday took a woman wrestler to the WFI chief's office in the national capital to recreate the sequence of events that led to the alleged sexual assault on her. It may be mentioned that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's official residence houses the office of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had assured the protesting wrestlers that a charge sheet will be filed in the case by June 15 after which the grapplers suspended their protest.

A Delhi police officer said the wrestler, accompanied by women police personnel, was taken to the WFI office at 1.30 pm. "They were there for half an hour. They asked her to recreate the scene and recall the places where she faced harassment," the police official said. Hours after the police left the place, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was among those leading the protest, took to Twitter to express her disappointment at media reports that claimed that the wrestlers had reached the WFI office for compromise.

"This is the power of Brij Bhushan. He is harassing women wrestlers by using his muscle power, political power and running false narratives, and his arrest is necessary. If the police arrests him instead of breaking us, there is hope of justice, otherwise not." "Women wrestlers had gone to the crime scene for police investigation, but it was flashed in the media that they had gone for a compromise," she tweeted in Hindi.

Bajrang Punia, another protesting wrestler, also posted similar tweets. Meanwhile, the Delhi police on Friday filed an action taken report before a court here on a plea seeking an FIR against wrestlers for allegedly making "false allegations" against Singh and indulging in hate speech. In the video provided by the complainant, the wrestlers are not seen shouting slogans and no offence of hate speech is made out, the police said, whileuring the court to dismissthe application. The court listed the plea for further arguments on July 7.

‘Police can still probe minor's case'

The State takes over once an FIR has been filed, so the U-turn by the minor wrestler's father won't be "decisive" and police can still proceed with its probe, legal experts said on Friday. The minor's father on Thursday said he filed a false complaint against Singh to get back at him for a perceived injustice to the girl. "The police are not bound to accept (his statement) and they can still pursue the case because the statement (of the minor) is already there on record under Section 164 of CrPC," senior lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi said. A statement recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 is admissible in court.

Another senior advocate Vikas Singh said, "The delay in arrest and filing of the charge sheet in such cases invariably results in a situation where the witnesses are compromised... There should be an inquiry as to why this happened." "Usually, the complainants, after seeing no action, are driven, coerced and allured to settle cases," he said, adding police can still pursue the case. Right now the ball is in the court of police, and if they accept and allow the withdrawal, then somebody will have to question it, Dwivedi said, adding either the minor or her next friend or somebody concerned may approach the court against the withdrawal.

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No of people questioned in the matter

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