No offence of hate speech is made out against the wrestlers who were protesting at Jantar Mantar seeking action against sidelined Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Delhi police told a court on Friday.
The cops said it in an Action Taken Report (ATR) filed before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Anamika, who was hearing an application seeking registration of an FIR against the wrestlers for allegedly levelling false allegations against Singh.
“It is submitted that on perusal of a video clip provided by the complainant in a pen drive, it has been revealed that some unknown Sikh protesters are seen in the video clip, and they are raising slogans at Jantar Mantar… no cognizable offence of hate speech is made out. The protesting wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and other wrestlers are not seen raising any such slogan in this clip,” police said.
The ATR urged the court to dismiss the application filed by Bam Bam Maharaj Nauhatiya, who claimed to be the national chief of Atal Jan Party’, against wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshee Malikkh. The court has now listed the plea for further arguments on 7 July.
On June 7, the wrestlers had a meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, after which they agreed to suspend their agitation till June 15. The protest was withdrawn after the government assured them that a chargesheet would be filed against the outgoing WFI chief by then and that elections to the federation would also be conducted by the month’s end.
After the meeting, Malikkh and Punia said they had also been assured that the FIRs lodged against them would be withdrawn.
