Justice has to be dispassionate. It cannot be allowed to succumb to the demands of a mob or yield to agitations. The sit-in dharna of some wrestlers against the WFI chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for more than a month demanding his arrest and removal from his present post cannot, in all fairness, be acceded to. The complaint against Singh is that he outraged the modesty of a minor girl and sexually exploited many of the female wrestlers. It may or may not be true, but sexual exploitation of girls and that too, of any minor girl is certainly a serious matter. It is a cognisable and non-bailable offence. Nevertheless, the Police have no power to arrest the person unless something tangible is found against him in the preliminary enquiry. More so, when the allegations have been made many months after the commitment of the said crime or offence.
The Supreme Court has accepted the petition of the wrestlers that an FIR against Brij Bhushan Singh should be lodged which must be enquired. If any truth is found in the allegations, then and then alone Singh can be arrested. But in the meantime, the demand for female wrestlers has acquired political overtones. Many busybodies have also
swung into action. These agitators must understand that justice cannot be held ransom by pressure tactics. Justice has not only to be done but must also appear to have been done.
Nobody knows -who ill-advised these wrestlers to move their agitation from Jantar Mantar to the place of the New Parliament, which was to be dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister on the 28th of May. It was not only a national but an international event, which was seen on TV Channels by the whole world. Could Delhi Police have permitted such a spectacle to happen in the full glare of the media? Certainly not. If the Police had allowed it, then it would have placed itself in an extremely bad light. No civilised law enforcement agency could have taken that shameful risk. Thus, Delhi Police did what it ought to have done. However, the most surprising is why the wrestlers who have brought glory to the country thought of shifting the place of agitation to the new parliament building.
The wrestlers and their advisers must now ask the police to file the chargesheet. If anything, grave is found against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the law will certainly take its own course because then it would be difficult for him to escape the dragnet. Even otherwise he is openly saying that if he is found guilty, he would himself get hanged. Although the punishment of hanging himself is not permissible, the least that can be expected from him is that he will cooperate in the investigation and not flee from the punishment.
Therefore, the wrestlers must allow the law to take its own course and they must keep themselves away from the politicians and Khaps. It will reinforce the confidence of the countrymen among them. Their antics of throwing the medals in the Ganges have been all the more unfortunate. They must also understand that the prestige of the country is also attached to their medals, and they cannot rub the honour of the country the wrong way. No legal system worth its name can dispense justice under the pressure of Khaps and politicians because that will seriously damage and erode the faith of the judicial system.