Court Charges Brij Bhushan from BJP with Adequate Evidence against Accused No.1

The next hearing in the case will be on May 21. The court has stated that there is sufficient evidence on record to proceed, thus paving the way for the beginning of the trial against him. Mr. Singh “welcomed” the order and asserted that he was “ready to face it”. Friday’s order by the Rouse Avenue court comes after the BJP decided not to repeat Brij Bhushan, the party MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, as the candidate from the constituency and instead chose to field his son Karan Bhushan Singh.

The court has ordered the framing of charges against Brij Bhushan under sections 354, 354-A, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. The Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against him under these sections and one additional section – 354D (stalking) – on June 15 last year. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot stated that charges will be framed against Brij Bhushan for sexually harassing five wrestlers, while he stands discharged from the allegations levelled by the sixth. The court also mentioned that charges should be framed against the former assistant secretary of the Federation, Vinod Tomar, under Section 506.

The six-time MP has been at the center of a huge political storm since last year, when sexual harassment charges were levied against him. This led to protests by prominent athletes, including Olympic medallists Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia, as well as Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Vinesh Phogat. Ms. Malikkh had also announced her retirement from the sport after an aide of Brij Bhushan had won the elections for the Wrestling Federation of India in December last year. The sports ministry had subsequently suspended the new managing committee.

Brij Bhushan has consistently denied all the charges. The BJP’s nomination of the MP’s son as the candidate for the Kaiserganj seat earlier this month was met with criticism from the opposition, as well as a strong statement by Ms. Malikkh, expressing her disappointment with the situation. After Friday’s order, Ms. Malikkh stated that it was a “small step towards victory.”