The incidents reportedly occurred at a restaurant, at the WFI office situated in Bhushan’s Ashok Road ministerial residence in New Delhi, during training sessions and during tournaments.
Allegations of multiple instances of sexual harassment have been made against BJP MP and Wrestling Fedaration of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by two female wrestlers in FIRs to the New Delhi Police. According to the Indian Express (IE), which accessed copies of the two FIRs, Bhushan molested the wrestlers and harassed them on multiple occasions under the pretext of checking their breathing pattern, during interactions in meetings and tournaments. The FIRs were filed on April 21, details of which were first published by IE on Saturday, May 6.
One wrestler has alleged that she was molested five times between 2016 and 2019. She has said that on one occasion he touched her thighs, her breasts on another occasion. The second wrestler has also detailed at least two incidents of molestation and groping by Bhushan once in 2018 and again in 2019 and alleged that he lifted her clothes claiming that he wanted to check her breathing pattern. All these incidents reportedly occurred at a restaurant, at the WFI office that is situated in Bhushan Ashok Road ministerial residence in New Delhi, during training sessions and during tournaments. The two FIRs have been registered at the Connaught Place police station.
Over the past weeks several of India’s top wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, along with Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Vinesh Phogat have been protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar demanding the arrest of Bhushan.
Earlier this week, on the night of May 3, police allegedly resorted to violence after refusing permission to the protesting wrestlers to bring in cots into the protest site. A reporter who was at the scene at the time, previously told TNM that the wrestlers had been sleeping on the ground on mattresses at the protest site. The reporter further said then that the mattresses had become wet in the previous night’s rain due to which the wrestlers had wanted to bring in cots. Two male wrestlers allegedly suffered head injuries in the violence. Further, one woman reporter who was also on the scene, Sakshi Joshi, released a video later the same night in which she says she was manhandled by Delhi police who also tore her clothes and detained her several hours until 1:30am.
Read: Journalist Sakshi Joshi alleges cops manhandled, tore her clothes at wrestlers’ protest
