New Delhi, April 28.
Delhi police assured the Supreme Court on Friday that an FIR would be filed on the allegations of sexual harassment levelled by women wrestlers against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan as it involved a cognisable offence, while in the same breath insisting that “something else was at play here”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud that an FIR would be filed. Mehta had at the last hearing claimed that a preliminary enquiry would be required before filing an FIR, justifying the delay in filing an FIR. Today, he said that an FIR would be filed by the end of the day as the information revealed a cognisable offence.
The police inaction in not filing an FIR had prompted the women wrestlers to move the top court. The top court had then sought an explanation on the police failure to register an FIR. One of the victims is a minor and any sexual harassment charges levelled by the minor attracts the stringent POCSO which warrants an immediate FIR. But this was not done.
Mehta while holding out the assurance that an FIR would be filed, also implicitly defended the BJP leader who is in the dock over sexual harassment charges when he made a cryptic allusion to “we feel that something else is playing out here”. “I cannot say more because it is a sensitive matter,” he told the bench which also comprised Justice P.S. Narasimha.
He also seemed to question the wrestlers move to approach the top court when he referred to the solution in law when police do not file an FIR. In this context, he referred to Section 156(3), CrPC, which empowers a magistrate to order a police investigation should the magistrate himself refrain from issuing process under Section 204.
Section 204 authorises a magistrate to issue summons or warrants causing the accused to appear or be brought before him if in his opinion there is sufficient ground to do so.
Mehta also urged the court to dismiss the wrestlers’ plea on the ground that their demand for an FIR had been accepted. The police would determine the modalities of the probe, he said. The wrestlers, through senior advocate Kapil Sibal, however, wanted a retired judge to monitor the probe. “These are girls who played for the nation here,” he said.
Sibal also spoke of the threats being faced by the minor victim who had complained of sexual assault. The bench then asked Delhi police to ensure that she had adequate security and report back to the court. The top court eventually did not dispose of the wrestlers’ plea, but kept it pending to be heard next week.
