Brij Bhushan Singh Acquitted: Delhi Court Rules Harassment Case Fabricated

Rouse Avenue Court Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwini Panwar acquitted former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh on 3 August 2026. The court acquitted Singh of charges under IPC Sections 354, 354A and 506 (Part I). Co-accused Vinod Tomar was acquitted under Section 506 (Part I).

The court observed that the sexual harassment allegations were false, fabricated and politically motivated. The case originated from accusations made by prominent women wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik. The wrestlers alleged incidents of harassment occurring between 2016 and 2019, according to media reports.

Court Finds Deep Conspiracy

Two key women wrestlers whose allegations formed the basis of the charges turned hostile during the trial, Bar and Bench reported. They admitted after counselling that no sexual harassment occurred. The hostile witnesses testified that coaches from Mahadev Academy and other wrestlers pressured them to falsely implicate Singh to remove him as WFI president.

Panwar recorded these findings in the judgment. "I have no hitch in saying that the version given by the victims...discredit the prosecution case completely and also show that the entire allegations are false and fabricated made collectively at the instance of...and...and the coaches of Mahadev academy against the accused persons in deep conspiracy which seems to be motivated politically," Panwar said.

Defence Highlights Key Contradictions

Defence lawyers said the court assessed the evidence in its entirety, finding significant contradictions, late improvements and a lack of corroboration. The court flagged the omission of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games allegation in the initial Oversight Committee affidavit, which surfaced only in later complaints.

The court also raised issues regarding the identification of alleged places of occurrence and the lack of contemporaneous complaints despite the presence of eyewitnesses. Ultimately, the court determined that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

BJP Demands Strict Accountability

Following the acquittal, the BJP demanded punitive action against individuals who fabricated the campaign. BJP IT Department in-charge Amit Malviya called for accountability against those who ran a manufactured campaign to tarnish Singh, the WFI and the government.

"The Delhi court’s ruling raises a simple question: what punitive action should follow against those who deliberately made false allegations, and against those in the political class who knowingly amplified them..." Malviya said on X.

He criticised the methods used against Singh. "You cannot weaponise allegations, conduct a trial by media, destroy reputations and then simply walk away when the case collapses under judicial scrutiny," Malviya said.