New Delhi, June 14, 2023: As per certain media reports, Former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur has said that the Supreme Court should have monitored the investigation into the women wrestler case to ensure that it didn’t get derailed.
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Disapproving of the manner in which the Supreme Court handled the woman wrestlers’ allegations against former Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, he said on Tuesday that the top court should not have allowed Delhi Police to get away with the delay in registering an FIR on the women wrestlers’ complaints.
According to a news published in The Tribune News paper, speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Wrestlers’ Struggle: Accountability of Institutions’, Justice Lokur said “I think the Supreme Court should have first of all asked them (Delhi Police) why did you not register an FIR much earlier? (SC should have asked) what is the point of telling us today after the matter is before us? Anyway, the Supreme Court did not do that. The Supreme Court accepted the fact that they (wrestlers) are under threat. It should not have said that if there is anything further, then you (wrestlers) should go to the magistrate or the High Court. The Supreme Court should have said that we would like to monitor the probe so that things do not go wrong,” Justice Lokur said.
Justice Lokur also slammed the Delhi Police for its handling of the sexual harassment complaints against Singh and the treatment meted out to the protesting wrestlers, saying a “re-victimisation” of the victims has taken place as they continued to wait for justice.”This is a clear case of re-victimisation…. The wrestlers have said they are under pressure,” he said.
It’s noteable that the women wrestlers had moved the top court seeking registration of an FIR against Singh. The Delhi Police had on April 28 informed a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud that an FIR had been registered in the.
Justice Lokur also pointed out that the WFI did not have a committee to deal with complaints of sexual harassment as mandated by law.
The Supreme Court had on May 4 turned down women wrestlers’ demand for a court-monitored probe into their allegations of sexual harassment against Singh and closed the proceedings on their petition “for now”, saying an FIR had already been lodged against him. However, it had given liberty to the petitioners to move the jurisdictional magistrate court or the high court for further relief.
