Supreme Court should have monitored wrestlers’ protest better, says Justice Lokur

Security personnel detain wrestler Sakshi Malik during wrestlers’ protest in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Justice Madan B. Lokur (retd), former Supreme Court judge, criticised the top court’s handling of the wrestlers’ protest. The wrestlers had moved the apex court alleging sexual harassment by the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Speaking at a webinar on ‘The Wrestlers’ Struggle: Accountability of Institutions’ organised by ANHAD and the National Alliance of People’s Movement on Tuesday, Justice Lokur also condemn the Delhi Police for its handling of the case, and as well as the way in which the wrestlers had been treated at Jantar Mantar, the protest venue.

Justice Lokur said that the protesters had not moved the Supreme Court without considering their actions, and that there was a series of events behind it. He said that the protesting wrestlers had been denied the right to a First Information Report (FIR) and the government had refused to make public the report of the committee set up to probe their allegations. “No one in the Ministry or in the federation (WFI) seems to be doing anything for [providing] justice to these women, including a minor,” he said.

“When the Delhi Police told the Supreme Court that they have filed an FIR….the Supreme Court should not have said that, listen, if you [the protesting wrestlers] have anything further, then you can go to the HC (High Court) or to a court in the jurisdiction of the State. The SC should have said — ‘we are convinced that you [the police] delayed lodging an FIR, which you should have done immediately in cases of aggravated sexual assault’,” Justice Lokur said.

He further said that when the apex court knew there was a threat perception and hence the wrestlers had to be given police protection, the court should have monitored the investigation, as in many past instances, ensuring that things did not go wrong.

Justice Lokur also questioned the government’s refusal to make the report of the oversight committee publicly available. “The contents of the report are a big secret to everyone, but why?” he asked.

Condemning the role of the Delhi Police in the case, Justice Lokur said that the delay by the police and the way they were investigating the case as of now, “mostly by re-victimising the complainants, including the minor complainant”, made it police culpability obvious.

He also criticised the filing of an FIR on the charge of rioting against the protesting wrestlers by the police. He reprimanded the police for claiming they had spoken to a hundred witnesses, and travelled to foreign countries, for a “probe that concerned the violation of a woman”.

“The whole thing indicates that the Delhi Police was going slow for reasons that are fairly obvious. It is quite obvious that the police is mixed up. They do not want the allegations and investigation to proceed,” Justice Lokur said. 

The former SC judge hinted at the actions of Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, who has assured the protesting wrestlers that the investigation would be completed by June 15. Without naming Mr. Thakur, Justice Lokur questioned how a Minister could know when the investigation would be completed as this should have only been known to the Investigating Officer.