‘She pushed away’: Wrestling referee opens up on sexual harassment charges against WFI’s Brij Bhushan

Jagbir Singh, an international wrestling referee, has claimed that he has seen Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh behaving inappropriately with female grapplers on several occasions in the past.

Jagbir Singh made claims, during an interview to India Today news channel, come even as the country’s top wrestlers, including Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat and Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, have been protesting against Brij Bhushan and demanding his arrest for allegedly sexually harassing female grapplers. The WFI chief has rejected the allegations.

According to Jagbir Singh, Brij Bhushan engaged in inappropriate behaviour with a female wrestler during the trials for the Asian Championship Wrestling trials on March 25, 2022, in Lucknow.

“During the photo session, a female wrestler was standing next to the WFI chief. However, soon after, the woman expressed discomfort about something and everyone’s attention turned to her. She freed herself, pushed away, mumbled and moved away,” the referee told the news channel.

“When we looked at what was happening, we saw that Brij Bhushan had placed his hands inappropriately on the female wrestler,” he said, adding the wrestler then moved to another spot.

Jagbir Singh, an international wrestling referee since 2007, has corroborated the wrestler’s allegations in his testimony to the Delhi Police.

According to the FIR, Bri Bhushan forcibly held her by the shoulder before she could break free and move to the front row for the photograph.

“I saw him (Brij Bhushan) standing next to her. She freed herself, pushed away, mumbled and moved away. She was standing next to the president, but then came to the front. I saw how this woman wrestler was reacting and she was uncomfortable. Uske saath kuchh galat hua (Something wrong happened to her). I didn’t see him doing the act but uske haath pair khoob chalte the, idhar aa ja. Idhar khadi ho ja (He used to keep touching wrestlers saying come here, come and stand here). From her (complainant’s) behaviour, it was clear something was wrong that day (during the photo session),” The Indian Express Jagbir Singh as saying.

Thailand incident

Recalling another incident in Thailand during the Junior Asia Championship in 2013, Jagbir Singh told India Today that Brij Bhushan had behaved inappropriately with minor female wrestlers.

The referee claimed that the WFI president had told the underage girls that he would arrange Indian food for them for dinner at their hotel, since they weren’t used to eating meat. Jagbir Singh added that a few of Brij Bhushan’s friends from Thailand were also present at the hotel and were intoxicated. “They touched the young girls inappropriately,” he said.

Jagbir Singh claimed that he was present during this happened and said it felt like a “nightmare”.