Security forces remove female wrestlers due to ‘misunderstanding’, Delhi police tell court

Delhi Police told a court on Friday that it had corrected the earlier “miscommunication” regarding withdrawal of protection to the women wrestlers scheduled to testify against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Deputy Chief Justice Priyanka Rajpoot had asked the city police to submit a detailed report by Friday on the reasons for withdrawing protection to a woman wrestler scheduled to testify against Singh.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava clarified that the recall of security personnel for the wrestlers was a “misunderstanding”.

“It’s been fixed,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, the court had issued an interim order directing the city police to immediately restore protection to the wrestler who had accused Singh of sexual harassment.

On Thursday evening, top wrestler Vinesh Phogat claimed on X that the police had withdrawn protection from female wrestlers who were scheduled to testify in the sexual harassment case against Singh.

“Delhi Police has withdrawn protection from women wrestlers scheduled to testify in court against Brij Bhushan,” Phogat said in a post on the microblogging platform, referring to the Delhi Police as well as the National Commission for Women and the Delhi Commission for Women.