Security personnel detain wrestler Sakshi Malik throughout wrestlers’ protest in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Justice Madan B. Lokur (retd), former Supreme Court decide, criticised the highest courtroom’s dealing with of the wrestlers’ protest. The wrestlers had moved the apex courtroom alleging sexual harassment by the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Speaking at a webinar on ‘The Wrestlers’ Struggle: Accountability of Institutions’ organised by ANHAD and the National Alliance of People’s Movement on Tuesday, Justice Lokur additionally condemn the Delhi Police for its dealing with of the case, and in addition to the way in which by which the wrestlers had been handled at Jantar Mantar, the protest venue.
Justice Lokur mentioned that the protesters had not moved the Supreme Court with out contemplating their actions, and that there was a collection of occasions behind it. He mentioned that the protesting wrestlers had been denied the correct to a First Information Report (FIR) and the federal government had refused to make public the report of the committee set as much as probe their allegations. “No one in the Ministry or in the federation (WFI) seems to be doing anything for [providing] justice to these women, including a minor,” he mentioned.
“When the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court that they have filed an FIR….the Supreme Court should not have said that, listen, if you [the protesting wrestlers] have anything further, then you can go to the HC (High Court) or to a court in the jurisdiction of the State. The SC should have said — ‘we are convinced that you [the police] delayed lodging an FIR, which you should have done immediately in cases of aggravated sexual assault’,” Justice Lokur mentioned.
He additional mentioned that when the apex courtroom knew there was a menace notion and therefore the wrestlers needed to be given police safety, the courtroom should have monitored the investigation, as in lots of previous situations, making certain that issues didn’t go unsuitable.
Justice Lokur additionally questioned the federal government’s refusal to make the report of the oversight committee publicly out there. “The contents of the report are a big secret to everyone, but why?” he requested.
Condemning the position of the Delhi Police within the case, Justice Lokur mentioned that the delay by the police and the way in which they had been investigating the case as of now, “mostly by re-victimising the complainants, including the minor complainant”, made it police culpability apparent.
He additionally criticised the submitting of an FIR on the cost of rioting in opposition to the protesting wrestlers by the police. He reprimanded the police for claiming that they had spoken to 100 witnesses, and travelled to overseas international locations, for a “probe that concerned the violation of a woman”.
“The whole thing indicates that the Delhi Police was going slow for reasons that are fairly obvious. It is quite obvious that the police is mixed up. They do not want the allegations and investigation to proceed,” Justice Lokur mentioned.
The former SC decide hinted on the actions of Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, who has assured the protesting wrestlers that the investigation could be accomplished by June 15. Without naming Mr. Thakur, Justice Lokur questioned how a Minister might know when the investigation could be accomplished as this should have solely been recognized to the Investigating Officer.
