NEW DELHI, Apr 25: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took a serious view of the non-registration of an FIR by the police and said the allegations of sexual harassment raised by seven women wrestlers against Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh were “serious.”
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud decided to examine the petition filed by the grapplers regarding the non-registration of First Information Report (FIR) and listed the case for Friday.
The Bench, on a request made by the petitioners, directed their identities be redacted from the court’s records. The court said only petitions and records in which their identities have been redacted would be made available in the public domain. The court issued formal notice and allowed petitioners liberty to serve copies of their petition to counsel for the Delhi government.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the seven women wrestlers, claimed that the FIR was not being registered because the accused was a Member of Parliament of the ruling party. He said even police officers who have refused to register FIRs on the basis of sexual harassment complaints made by the petitioners could be prosecuted. One of the petitioners was a minor at the time of the alleged sexual harassment, he said.
Chief Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the petitioners have a remedy under Section 156 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, under which a Magistrate could order an investigation. “Of course, we have… but look at how the police are not registering an FIR on these allegations… These are allegations of sexual harassment… There are video recordings,” Sibal said, referring to the seriousness of the allegations.
Sibal said the complaints of the petitioners have been placed in a sealed cover. “The last complaint is by a minor. The young girl was 16 at the time. The accused is the president of the Wrestling Federation of India… Even the police officers can be prosecuted for not registering an offence of this nature,” he submitted.
In its order, the court observed that “there are serious allegations contained in the petition.” The court noted that the petitioners were wrestlers who represented India who have alleged that sexual harassment had been meted out to them. The Bench ordered the complaints attached with the writ petition to be re-sealed.
(Manas Dasgupta)