Delhi High Court seeks State response to Brij Bhushan plea for early hearing of quashing petition

The Delhi High Court today sought the Delhi government's response to an application by former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, for an early hearing of his plea to quash criminal proceedings in the sexual harassment cases against him [Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Anr. vs. State NCT of Delhi and Ors.]..In the same application, Bhushan has also prayed for a stay of the ongoing criminal trial until his quashing petition is heard. Former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar (accused of intimidating a wrestler), has also prayed for the same relief..Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri briefly took the matter up today. “What is the ground of the early hearing application? That one witness has been examined in trial?” the judge asked before eventually issuing notice in the matter. .Delhi government Standing Counsel Sanjeev Bhandari accepted notice.The matter will be heard next on December 16..Six wrestlers have levelled sexual harassment allegations against Bhushan. Based on their complaint, the Delhi Police had filed a chargesheet against Bhushan for offences under Sections 354 (outraging modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in June 2023.In May 2024, a Delhi court framed charges against Bhushan, observing that there was sufficient material on record to frame charges against him.The trial court also charged co-accused Vinod Tomar with the offence of criminal intimidation against a female wrestler..Bhushan then approached the Delhi High Court to quash the criminal proceedings against him.When the matter was heard in August this year, Justice Neena Bansal Krishna took a prima facie view that this appeared to be an oblique plea."There can’t be an omnibus order on everything. If you wanted to quash the order on charge you could have come. Once the trial has started, this is nothing but an oblique way," the High Court had remarked..In his early hearing application, Bhushan pointed out that this plea was then listed on January 13, 2025.He added that the trial against him has been progressing meanwhile, with hearings being fixed on a weekly basis. By January 2025, the trial court is likely to finish examining all witnesses, he added.In such circumstances, he urged the High Court to hear his plea to quash the trial proceedings earlier, arguing that there was a strong case for quashing these criminal proceedings altogether.He added that if the trial continues, it would cause him great prejudice and mental agony.Bhushan's early hearing application was filed through advocate Rajiv Mohan.