Wrestlers protest: Court seeks status report from Delhi police over women grapplers' plea

The Rouse Avenue court in the national capital on Wednesday issued a notice to Delhi police over the plea filed by the women wrestlers seeking an early recording of their statements. Notably, the women wrestlers have filed the complaint under section 156(3) of CrPC before Rouse Avenue Court to monitor the investigation against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. In the plea, the minor victim and others have sought early recording of their statements saying in the petition that the police are "protracting the investigation" and not recording the victim's statement before the court.

Taking note of the plea, the Delhi court on Wednesday gave notice to the police and sought a status report on the matter. The court has set May 12 as the date for the next hearing on the case. It is pertinent to mention that this development comes a day after the Delhi Commission of Women summoned the Deputy Commissioner of Police of the New Delhi district over failure to arrest the accused in the cases of alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers.

DCW summons DCP 

The DCW said it has learnt that no accused has been arrested in the matter till date and has asked the DCP to appear before the Commission on May 12 with an action taken report.

“It is also learnt that statements of survivors including the minor girl, under 164 CrPC have not been recorded till date, despite the passage of 10 days since the registration of FIRs,” it claimed. 

Notably, the women wrestlers had approached the Supreme Court and two FIRs were registered on April 28. One FIR has been registered against Brij Bhushan Singh under POSCO in the matter of sexual harassment with a minor girl while another FIR has been registered for sexual harassment with other complainants, the DCW said.

“The Commission has asked for reasons for failing to record statements of survivors under 164 CrPC along with details of action taken against concerned police officers for failing to record statements. The Commission has asked DCP to appear before the Commission on May 12 with an action taken report,” it said.

It is pertinent to mention that the country’s top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, resumed their sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on April 23, demanding the arrest of the WFI president.