Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat alleged that the Delhi Police had withdrawn protection from the women who were due to testify in court. File | Image credit: The Hindu
Delhi Police told a court on Friday (August 23, 2024) that it had corrected the earlier “misunderstanding” regarding the removal of protection for women wrestlers who were scheduled to testify against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot had asked the city police to submit a detailed report by Friday (August 23, 2024) on the reasons for withdrawing the security of a woman wrestler who is scheduled to testify against Mr Singh.
Also read: In FIR, wrestlers recount traumatic experiences of sexual harassment by WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh
Deputy Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava clarified that the removal of the wrestlers’ security personnel was due to a “misunderstanding”. “This has been corrected,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, the court had issued an interim order directing the city police to immediately restore protection to the female wrestler who had accused Mr 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On Thursday evening, top wrestler Vinesh Phogat claimed on X that the police had withdrawn protection from female wrestlers who were scheduled to testify in the sexual harassment case against Singh.
“Delhi Police has withdrawn protection from women wrestlers scheduled to testify in court against Brij Bhushan,” Phogat said in a post on the microblogging platform, referring to the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.
