Opinion The impunity of being Brij Bhushan Singh
When accused sexual predators enjoy the government’s public protection to the point that complainants are beaten and dragged by police in full view of the cameras while marching to Parliament — and, on that very day, the accused himself is shown sitting smugly in his seat, applauding the Prime Minister — the message could not be clearer
Vinesh Phogat, the courageous voice of the women complainants, has said they will appeal the judgment. (File photo) The acquittal of BJP leader and former MP Brij Bhushan Singh on charges of serial sexual harassment brought by India’s most celebrated female wrestlers is deplorable. It is the culmination of an unequal battle in which power, influence and caste equations, enabled by the highest echelons of the ruling regime, ensured impunity at every level.
The complaints the women made to the authorities were systematically ignored. It was only when they sat on dharna in January 2023, gaining wide support from their sporting fraternity, that the government appointed an oversight committee to inquire into the allegations. The women withdrew their protest in good faith. But the committee’s report was a whitewash — kept secret, never even shared with the complainants. The women resumed their struggle and demanded an FIR. Their written complaints to the police ranged from groping, touching the breast and navel, to stalking, intimidation and demands for sexual favours in return for professional benefits. Brij Bhushan was, at the time, a Member of Parliament and the powerful head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Any party with a minimum sense of morality would have at least suspended him. Not the BJP — which had already brazened out the case of its UP leader and MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, later convicted of raping a minor, whom it protected and expelled only two years after the case was reported. In Brij Bhushan’s case, the Delhi Police, under the jurisdiction of Home Minister Amit Shah, simply refused to file an FIR. He retained his post at the WFI.
The achievements of the wrestlers, the glory they had brought India, counted for nothing. They were, after all, only women; it was the leader who had to be protected. The women were forced to appeal to the Supreme Court just to get an FIR registered. When accused sexual predators enjoy the government’s public protection to the point that complainants are beaten and dragged by police in full view of the cameras while marching to Parliament — and, on that very day, the accused himself is shown sitting smugly in his seat, applauding the Prime Minister — the message could not be clearer. Even after the FIR was filed, the man was never arrested. It becomes easy, after that, to influence the course of investigation, to pressure complainants into withdrawing and witnesses into turning hostile.
The full judgement is yet to be made public, but the court’s official reporting is plain enough: The prosecution, it is said, failed to prove guilt “beyond reasonable doubt”. In cases of sexual harassment where the time and place are of the predator’s choosing, there are rarely witnesses; the statements of the victims themselves are the evidence. If this is not proof enough for courts, then there is little hope of improving the low conviction rate of less than one third in such cases. The delay in filing the complaint is also cited as a reason. How long will it take us to understand the basic realities of power that silence victims, and the force that comes down on them if they dare to speak? Despite a specific law, we have utterly failed to make workplaces and public spaces safe enough for women to report harassment without fear of reprisal or stigma. India has its own Jeffrey Epsteins, protected by layers of power.
The judgment comes at a moment when India is also witnessing a toxic, misogynistic backlash against the young women who were so active in the historic Jantar Mantar student struggle led by the Cockroach Janta Party. They are being doxxed, stalked and threatened with rape — anything to silence and punish them. When the Prime Minister calls it a “culture shock” to hear young women use cuss words, he stamps his approval on sexist abuse, so long as it is men doing the abusing — because, in this telling, men will be men.
Vinesh Phogat, the courageous voice of the women complainants, has said they will appeal the judgment. They will have the support of all those who believe that justice cannot be held hostage to power and influence.
The writer is a senior CPI(M) leader
Share
