New Delhi: With wrestlers continuing to protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the demand for his immediate arrest has intensified. The BJP MP has been accused of sexual harassment by seven women wrestlers, including a minor.
Olympians Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia sat in protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for over a month. But on Sunday, several protesting wrestlers were briefly detained and booked by the police as they tried to march towards the new Parliament building, being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi . A few days later, Punia, Malik and Phogat reached Haridwar to immerse their medals in the Ganges, but did not do so after they were allegedly persuaded by farmer leaders and asked for five days to address their grievances. Get it.
Delhi Police has registered two separate cases First Information Report (FIR), including one under Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act 2012, against Brij Bhushan, who has denied all the charges. Section 10 of the Act talks about aggravated sexual assault.
On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal asked why Brij Bhushan had not been arrested till now.
Brij Bhushan Singh:
Whether application of POCSO and immediate arrest after 164 statements is applicable to all the accused except Brij Bhushan
Because he :
1) Belongs to BJP
2) Reputed female wrestlers don’t mind; Vote matters!
3) The government doesn’t careIs this my new India?
– Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) May 31, 2023
Brij Bhushan, on the other hand, has claimed that the POCSO law is being “misused” and emphasis on Under the leadership of the seers, “we will force the government to change it”.
So what does the POCSO Act say, and is there a rule of immediate arrest in such cases? ThePrint states:
what is a ‘serious offence’
POCSO Act It was introduced in 2012 to protect children from sexual abuse, sexual assault and pornography. The law is gender-neutral, and considers the “best interests and well-being of the child” as a matter of paramount importance at every stage “to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child”.
According to The law, whoever “touches the vagina, penis, anus or breast of a child with sexual intent or makes the child touch the vagina, penis, anus or breast of such person”, or any other act with sexual intent without physical touch Penetrates, will be convicted of sexual assault.
Offenses under this law are considered serious if committed by a relative, police officer, public servant, employee of a remand home, security or observation home, prison, hospital or educational institution, or by a member of armed or security forces. forces.
They are also considered serious if they are committed by the management or staff of an educational institution, or by the owner or management or staff of an institution providing services to the child, or by any “child in a position of trust or authority … “an institution or child’s home or elsewhere”.
The law classifies these serious crimes as “serious” crimes, and sets higher penalties for them. Therefore, sexual assault by any such person in authority, counts But His relationship with the child would amount to aggravated sexual assault.
Under POCSO, for aggravated penetrative sexual assault, the minimum punishment is 20 years, and can go up to life imprisonment or death penalty. A conviction for aggravated sexual assault can result in a sentence of up to five to seven years. In contrast, the punishment for penetrative sexual assault ranges from 10 years to life imprisonment and for sexual assault from three to five years.
Section 19 of the Act makes it mandatory for anyone, including authorities such as hospitals, to inform the police in case of any incident of alleged sexual assault on a minor. Any person who fails to report such matter shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.
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When does arrest happen?
Offenses under section 10 of the POCSO Act are cognizable and non-bailable. Cognizable offenses are those in which a police officer can arrest without a warrant from the court. These include crimes that are considered more serious in nature, such as murder, rape, dowry death and kidnapping. If an offense is non-bailable, the accused is granted bail at the discretion of the court and not as a matter of right.
In such serious crimes, while the right to arrest is still with the police, the accused is usually arrested. The offenses are also non-bailable, indicating that usually in such cases FIR is followed by arrest.
Supreme Court lawyer Aparna Bhat explained, “The reason for what is recognized as a crime is because of a person’s position, because it is a position of trust, and a position of authority in an organization. In this case, the trust The situation was because he held an official position in an organization that was supposed to look after these wrestlers. These people also knew who this person was, so there are two positions of trust that the accused would have allegedly breached.
He said: “Considering these two, it is a serious offense as per the law. Usually in such cases the police take action and the person is identified. And then he will have to get formal bail from the court.”
Speaking to ThePrint, Delhi-based criminal lawyer Sarim Naved said, “In POCSO cases, arrest is usually granted, even for offenses that are punishable for less than seven years. This is because in POCSO cases, the victim is, by definition, vulnerable.”
He said, “It’s pretty bizarre for a regular criminal law practitioner… If this is the standard they’re going to apply at the level of the investigation, everyone should be out.”
‘Isn’t this a threat?’
In a landmark judgment in 2014, known as Arnesh Kumar CaseThe Supreme Court had issued guidelines with the intention that “police officers do not arrest unnecessarily and magistrates do not authorize detention casually and mechanically”. These included the requirement that a police officer must record the reasons for arresting an accused and are required to issue a notice of appearance in cases involving offenses with a prison term of less than seven years.
However, Naved, quoted earlier, explained, “The Supreme Court has never said that for (invited) cases of less than seven years (of imprisonment), there can be no arrest. They have only said that such The reasons for the arrest should be recorded in writing.”
Referring to Brij Bhushan’s case, Naved asked, “The accused in this case are going around saying that the wrestlers are lying, they should return their medals.” He is doing rallies. How does this not amount to witness intimidation?”
“At least they should explain why the arrest has not been made… The law as it is if a prosecutor says something has happened, you at least file an FIR and investigate. What is the investigation? Is this person interrogated even once? The police need to at least interrogate him.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)