Coach hugging student not sexual offence: Brij Bhushan tells court
Bhushan's counsel referred to an allegation against his client about an incident in a wrestling event in Siri Fort, and said that there was only hugging and no sexual advances were made
Merely touching a woman without sexual intent doesn’t constitute criminal activity, BJP MP and the outgoing president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh told a Delhi court on Wednesday (August 9).
This statement was made as the court was listening to arguments from both sides on the framing of charges against Brij Bhushan and Vinod Tomar, the assistant secretary of WFI.
Rajiv Mohan, counsel for Brij Bhushan, told the magistrate hearing the case, “Merely touching a woman without sexual intent doesn’t involve criminal activity…the event is a wrestling event…the coaches are mostly male. If out of anxiety or joy of doing something for the nation, a coach hugs his student, it shouldn’t be considered an offence.”
He referred to an allegation against his client about an incident in a wrestling event in Siri Fort, and said that there was only hugging and no sexual advances were made.
The lawyer also said that the Delhi court did not have jurisdiction over some of the cases that happened in other states, and that cases involving incidents outside the country could be tried only with sanction from the central government.
Talking about cases related to offences committed in another state, he said that the court could only take it into consideration if the offence was a “continuing one”, and that sexual harassment was a momentary offence and not a continuing one.
The court had granted bail to Brij Bhushan and Tomar on July 20 with certain conditions.
(With inputs from agencies)