Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar ‘intentionally aided’ and ‘facilitated’ former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six female wrestlers of the country.
Two of the six complaints listed Tomar as a co-accused. According to the charge sheet, he “intentionally” and “purposefully” prevented the husband in one case and the coach in the other from accompanying the complainants when they went to meet Brij Bhushan on three separate occasions at the latter’s office-cum-residence on Ashoka Road in Delhi.
Vinod Tomar, who was associated with the WFI for more than 20 years, has been charged with violating the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 109 (abetment), 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) and 354 A (sexual harassment). However, the allegations brought against the former WFI official were reportedly completely denied by him during interrogation.
The charge sheet made reference to a complaint made by one of the wrestlers and mentioned, “The complainant (statement under Sections 161 and 164) has made the allegation that when she had gone to the office of the WFI in Delhi along with (her husband) to meet Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the accused, Vinod Tomar, allowed only the victim to enter the office and intentionally did not allow (her husband) inside the office and it was on that day that Brij Bhushan molested her. The next day, (her husband) was not allowed to enter, and the victim was molested again.”
It added, “The intent of Vinod Tomar in not allowing her husband to sit or wait outside Brij Bhushan’s office and rather make him sit near his office implies clear mala fide intent on his part as the door of Brij Bhushan’s room was not visible from outside the office of Vinod Tomar.”
The two claimed occurrences took place in 2017. Vinod Tomar allegedly requested that the complainant’s spouse wait outside the WFI office the first time. The second time, her husband was told to stay near Vinod Tomar’s chamber at the WFI office.
The chargesheet asserted that the ex-WFI employee also called the wrestler to his residence where “he humiliated and mentally harassed her on the basis of her failure to secure a position at the Olympics.” When another complainant was instructed to visit the WFI head in his office in a similar instance in 2022, Vinod Tomar ordered her coach to wait outside.
The charge sheet informed, “The complainant, in her statement under Section 164, has specifically stated that Vinod Tomar went inside the chamber of the accused, Brij Bhushan, and thereafter asked the victim to go inside the chamber alone, and purposefully stopped the coach from going inside, and closed the door.”
“When the victim was alone inside the chamber of the accused, Brij Bhushan, the accused made indecent sexual advances seeking sexual favours. Thereby, Vinod Tomar aided and facilitated the commission of the above offence in a planned manner,” it concluded.
Notably, Vinod Tomar was suspended in January of this year by the Union Ministry of Sports. The action was taken after the protest by the wrestlers against the wrestling federation and its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
