Wrestlers’ protest: Bajrang Punia says he is ready to take SC-monitored lie-detector test
WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of harassing woman wrestlers, had said he would take undergo the test if the wrestlers also take it.
Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia on Monday said that he and wrestler Vinesh Phogat were ready to undergo a lie-detector narco analysis test as Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had demanded, reported PTI. Singh has been accused of sexually harassing several women players, including a minor.
Punia and Phogat, are among wrestlers who have been staging a sit-in protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since April 23, demanding that Singh be arrested. They had dared him to undergo the test after he denied all the allegations. On Sunday, Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, said that he was ready to be put through the test on the condition that Phogat and Punia also take it.
In a narco analysis test, suspects are injected with a drug called sodium pentothal in an attempt to elicit a confession. The drug dissolves anxiety, thereby allowing them to speak without restrictions.
On Monday, Punia said that not only he and Phogat but all women who have filed complaints against should were ready to undergo the narco test. “They are the ones whose truth needs to come out,” he said, reported The Indian Express. Punia demanded that the test should be done under the supervision of the Supreme Court and telecast live on television.
“His [Singh] statements under Section 164 [examination of witness under Code of Criminal Procedure] are still pending, he is sitting 500 kilometres away and making these claims [about a narco test],” he added. “We are sitting here 200 metres away from his house asking for justice.”
Senior advocate Narender Hooda, the legal counsel of the wrestlers, told The Indian Express on Saturday that a court-monitored investigation was necessary in the case.
“Since the accused is an MP of the ruling party, there is genuine apprehension that police may not proceed in the manner it may proceed against any other accused,” Hooda said. “So that is why we are requesting the High Court to monitor how the investigating officer is moving in this case.”
Two first information reports have been registered against Singh after the Supreme Court intervened but he is yet to be arrested. Singh has also refused to step down from his position in the wrestling body and accused the Congress and certain industrialists of instigating the agitation.