New Delhi: An international wrestling referee has corroborated an instance of sexual harassment alleged by a wrestler in one of the first information reports against Wrestling Federation of India chief and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Indian Express has reported.India’s top wrestlers had been protesting against the lack of action against Singh at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi until a meeting on Wednesday, June 7, with Union sports minister, led to a temporary suspension of protests upon the government promising a charge sheet by June 15.Six adults and one minor have made serious allegations of sustained sexual harassment against Singh. One of them had said that in March 2022, when the wrestling team posed for a photo at the end of Asian Championship trials in Lucknow, the BJP MP had placed his hands on her buttocks, according to Express‘s report. She had tried to move away, she wrote in the complaint.Jagbir Singh, who has been an international wrestling referee since 2007, told the newspaper that he had seen the incident and had also been asked by police about the photograph. Singh also said that he was standing “a few feet away” from the MP during the incident. He said that she was visibly “uncomfortable” and that “something wrong had happened to her.”Also read: Who Is Afraid of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh?“I didn’t see him doing the act but his hands and legs were always active, saying ‘come here, stand here’,” he said, adding that from the behaviour of the wrestler, it was clear that something was wrong.Express noted that referee Singh is among “over 125 potential witnesses, across four states, who are part of the police probe”.The relevant portion of the FIR that corresponds to this allegation notes that MP Singh came and stood beside the wrestler who was standing at the last row, and eventually, to her shock, she felt his hand on her behind. “When I tried moving away, I was forcibly held by my shoulder by the accused,” she noted.After eventually managing to free herself, the wrestler had to stand in front of the group to participate in the photograph.Referee Singh is the second of two witnesses that Indian Express has spoken to, who has corroborated the complainants’ claims. The other is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Anita. An Olympian is among other witnesses who have corroborated the allegations of three complainants, the paper has reported.The FIRs detail over 15 incidents reflecting sustained sexual harassment and coercion by MP Singh.
