In July of 2023, we saw a sexual harassment and sexual abuse accused breaking the mic of a female reporter when he was asked whether he would be resigning from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, of which he is a member, in view of the serious accusations being levied against him. The accused, namely Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had misbehaved with the said female journalist from Times Now for having asked question regarding the wrestlers protest, the accusations of sexual abuse and his resignation from the BJP party. And today, we saw a male journalist, if one still considers him to be one, named Aman Chopra taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) to gloat how he visited sexual harassment accused Singh’s Gaushala (cowshed) during his Ayodhya tour.
Chopra has also posted three photos in the said social media post, where he can be seen casually walking and feeding cows along with the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
His post on X can be viewed here:
अयोध्या दौरे के दौरान @b_bhushansharan के साथ उनकी गौशाला गया। pic.twitter.com/IeswK6Y8BV
— Aman Chopra (@AmanChopra_) January 17, 2024
This comes after multiple wrestlers in December had returned their awards in protest to a close aid of Singh, namely Sanjay Singh, being appointed as the president of the WFI. Bajrang Punia had returned his Padma Shri award and Vinesh Phogat had also returned her Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Award. Both of these, who had led the Wrestlers protest against Singh since January 2023 and shed their light on the exploitative culture prevailing at the WFI had also written separate open letters addressed to PM Modi expressing their anguish and disappointment. Later, Virender Singh Yadav had also supported the Wrestlers in this movement, and had returned Padma Shri award.
It is crucial to note that Sakshi Malik, who was also the main force behind the Wrestlers protest had announced at a conference that she will be retiring from wrestling.
It is also pertinent to highlight here that the sexual harassment and sexual abuse case against Singh is ongoing in the Delhi court and is at the stage of framing of charges. Arguments against Singh by the Delhi Police have come to a conclusion and the counsel for the complainants, the six wrestlers who have raised the allegations against Singh, will be beginning on January 20.
In the arguments submitted by the Delhi police through Additional public prosecutor (APP) Atul Srivastava that Singh had “outraged the modesty” of the women wrestlers who filed harassment charges against him at every opportunity he got. The APP also told the court that the former WFI chief “knew what he was doing” and his intention was to outrage the modesty of the wrestlers, which he also tried to cover up. It was further submitted that Singh justified that his acts were carried out in a father-like capacity while reacting to the victims’ statement that Bhushan used to touch their breast on the pretext of checking their breathing capacity.
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