Three years after a group of prominent Indian female wrestlers first brought explosive sexual harassment allegations against a powerful ruling-party politician, an Indian district court has delivered a not-guilty verdict that has reignited debate over accountability in Indian sports and institutional bias.
The case centers on Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a former Member of Parliament from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who once led the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Six female wrestlers accused Singh of repeated sexual harassment during his tenure as WFI chief, claims Singh has strenuously denied from the moment they were made public. A close aide of Singh, Vinod Tomar, who was also named in the case, has similarly been cleared of all charges.
Singh, who retains significant political clout in Uttar Pradesh—India’s most electorally critical state—saw the allegations against him erupt into a national and international controversy in 2023. That year, the protesting wrestlers attempted to march to India’s new parliament building in New Delhi to demand action, a demonstration that ended with police detaining the athletes. Viral footage showed Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and two-time world championship medalist Vinesh Phogat being dragged from the protest site and transported in police vans, prompting widespread condemnation from elite athletes across the country and opposition political leaders. For weeks afterward, the wrestlers maintained a high-profile sit-in protest in central Delhi, pressuring the central government to open a formal investigation and prosecute Singh.
Following Monday’s verdict announcement, Singh spoke to local reporters, expressing relief and maintaining his long-stated innocence. “The day the accusation was levelled against me, I had said that if the charges were proven, I would willingly hang myself. Today, the court has acquitted me,” he told NDTV, India’s leading English-language news channel. As Singh returned to his Delhi residence after the ruling, hundreds of supporters gathered to celebrate, setting off firecrackers and tossing flower petals to greet him.
But the acquittal has drawn immediate and sharp pushback from the wrestlers who brought the case. Phogat, who became the public face of the 2023 protests, wrote on social media platform X that the outcome left her deeply disappointed. She alleged that “from the first day, the entire administration, system and government were engaged in protecting [Singh],” confirming that the accusers intend to challenge the district court’s ruling in a higher court.
The case has long put the Modi government under political scrutiny. When the allegations first emerged, critics accused the BJP of moving too slowly to discipline Singh, who was a sitting MP at the time. The government rejected those claims, stating it would allow the legal process to proceed independently. Under mounting public pressure, however, the BJP declined to name Singh as its candidate for his Uttar Pradesh parliamentary constituency, Kaiserganj, in the 2024 national elections. Instead, the party fielded Singh’s son for the seat—who ultimately won the election.