A group of women wrestlers has moved a Delhi sessions court challenging the acquittal of former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case. The original complaints, filed by six wrestlers in 2023, accused Singh of sexual harassment, outraging modesty, stalking and criminal intimidation during his years heading the wrestling federation. The allegations triggered prolonged protests by wrestlers at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in 2023, drawing national attention to conduct within the sport’s governing body. On August 3, 2026, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwini Panwar acquitted Singh and a co-accused, Vinod Tomar, after a trial that stretched over three years and involved 127 hearings.
The trial court described the complaints as false, fabricated and appearing rehearsed, and suggested the case carried political motivations, while also noting the allegations were filed a considerable time after the incidents were said to have occurred. Four of the wrestlers, represented by senior advocate Rebecca John, have now filed an appeal against that acquittal before the sessions division of the Rouse Avenue court. The appeal will be heard by Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh, who presides over cases involving sitting and former members of Parliament and state assemblies. In their filing, the wrestlers argue that the trial court’s order relies on conjecture rather than a proper evaluation of the evidence placed before it.
They contend the magistrate leaned on outdated and stereotypical assumptions about how victims of sexual harassment are expected to behave, rather than assessing the testimony in context. The appeal also argues that the trial court focused disproportionately on minor inconsistencies in witness accounts while failing to weigh corroborating evidence as a whole. A hearing on the challenge has been scheduled for Saturday, September 27. The case has remained politically sensitive since it first surfaced, given Singh’s standing as a sitting BJP member of Parliament at the time the allegations were made.