Trial in Brij Bhushan sexual harassment case complete, Delhi court to pronounce judgment on August 3

4 min readNew DelhiJul 2, 2026 09:39 PM IST

In June 2023, Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against Singh for the alleged sexual harassment, assault and stalking of six women wrestlers. ?(File image)

Three years after a chargesheet was filed against former BJP MP and ex-chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, for allegedly sexually harassing several women wrestlers, the trial in the case has been completed.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwani Panwar of Rouse Avenue court has reserved the judgment in the matter and is likely to pronounce it on August 3.

The trial in the case began in July 2024.

While 43 witnesses were officially on the initial list, a number of them were dropped as the case progressed. Each of the remaining witnesses has been examined, final arguments concluded, and the court has asked all the counsel to file written submissions in two weeks.

The defence, led by advocates Rajiv Mohan, Rishabh Bhati, Rehan Khan and Suryansh Singh, argued during in-camera proceedings that the complainants kept changing their statements. It was also argued that the complainants had either changed the place or the date of the alleged incident. In some allegations of sexual harassment, the accused wasn’t present at the place where the alleged incident took place, the advocates said.

On the other hand, Public Prosecutor Manish Rawat argued that from framing of charges till the trial, the statements of the victims have been consistent. He also submitted before court that other public witnesses corroborated their statements. The Indian Express has learnt that of the six victims, two have turned hostile. In allegations pertaining to one victim, charges were not framed.

Senior Advocate Rebecca John, assisted by Bhavook Chauhan, Harsh Bora and Anushka Baruah, who represented four complainants, argued that they had extensively testified about various incidents of sexual assault and harassment at the hands of the accused and that these testimonies had not been shaken in cross-examination.

“Corroborative witnesses, who witnessed some of these incidents, have also been examined and they have fully supported the version of the women wrestlers,” she told The Indian Express.

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“In a sexual harassment case…women may complain about it much after the incident. They (the complainants in this case) essentially came from rural backgrounds. The head of the Federation was a very powerful man who, instead of encouraging them, was sexually exploiting them. Given the power differential, it was only natural that they were scared of reporting these incidents spontaneously. The Supreme Court has recognised that you have to give leeway to complainants and you can’t look at delay as the same way as you do in other cases. Four complainants withstood cross-examination,” she said.

“There were some minor lapses in memory because they were speaking of incidents that happened over time, some that were seven-eight years ago. And these lapses only pertained to dates or places where they occurred. As far as the actual occurrence of sexual assault was concerned, they were lucid and described them in as much detail as possible and withstood extensive cross-examination without being shaken. They were extremely credible witnesses,” she added.

In June 2023, Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against Singh for the alleged sexual harassment, assault and stalking of six women wrestlers. In their 1,500-page chargesheet, the police mentioned statements from at least 22 witnesses across four states, including wrestlers, a referee, a coach and a physiotherapist, who corroborated the allegations made by six women wrestlers against Singh.

In May 2024, a Delhi court framed charges against Singh under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354A (sexual harassment).

Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.

Professional Background

Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.

Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.

Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.

Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.

Recent notable articles

In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.

1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.

2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.

3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.

Signature Style

Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.

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