The Delhi Police on Friday urged a court in the national capital to frame charges against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the sexual harassment case, PTI reported.

Six women wrestlers have accused Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, of sexual harassment. The Delhi Police registered the first information reports against him in April, following the intervention of the Supreme Court in the matter. On June 15, the police filed a 1,000-page chargesheet against Singh.

Singh has argued that since some of the alleged incidents took place outside India, they do not fall in the jurisdiction of the courts in Delhi, PTI reported.

One of the complainants had accused Singh of groping her during a tour to Kazakhstan in 2012. She was also a member of the sexual harassment committee at the wrestling federation.

In another complaint, a wrestler had accused Singh of leaning on her while she was exercising and pulling up her t-shirt on the pretext of checking her breathing during the 2018 Asian Championships in Kyrgyzstan. She also alleged that Singh put his hand on her stomach and forcefully tried to hug her when she visited the wrestling federation’s office in 2019.

On Friday, the police submitted before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot that the alleged sexual harassment incidents, both overseas and in India, including Delhi, are part of the same offence.

The court will next hear the matter on January 20.

Allegations against Brij Bhushan

In June, the Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Singh months after India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia as well as two-time World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, had launched protests seeking his arrest.

Details of the FIRs against the politician show that he allegedly demanded sexual favours in exchange for professional help from at least two female wrestlers as well as harassed over half a dozen players.

Singh has been booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

The BJP MP has maintained that the allegations against him are false.

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