BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been accused of sexual harassment, including a case of alleged harassment of a minor – allegations that stemmed protests by India’s top wrestlers and Olympian medalists.
It has been more than 35 days since the protests demanding the arrest of Singh. Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal also wrote to the Commissioner of Police demanding the arrest of Singh, who is also the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, and action against personnel who detained the protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar on Sunday.
As the new Parliament building was being inaugurated Sunday, protesting wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, planned a march. The wrestlers were detained on Sunday after a scuffle with security personnel.
Meanwhile, a group of more than 1,150 rights activists, former civil servants, lawyers, writers, and others have also issued a statement against the Delhi Police’s action on protesting wrestlers.
Who is Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh?
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was born on January 8, 1957, serves as Member of Parliament from Kaiserganj as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. His career has been full of controversies. He was one of the prominent names in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and got arrested in the demolition of the Babri Masjid case. He was also booked under the anti-terrorism law TADA for harboring shooters of the Dawood Ibrahim gang.
Singh, who belongs to a Rajput family, studied law at Saket P.G. College in Ayodhya. He married to Ketki Devi Singh in 1981 and has three sons and a daughter.
In 1991, he was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha from Gonda constituency in Uttar Pradesh as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. He was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 from the same constituency. In 2004, he was re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha from Balrampur constituency in Uttar Pradesh state on the BJP ticket. In 2008, he joined the Samajwadi Party. In 2009, he was re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha from Kaiserganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh state. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party months before the 16th general election.