Wrestler's father denies report of withdrawing statement against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

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Two days after reports claimed that the minor wrestler has withdrawn her statement against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual abuse, her father denied such claims, saying that the charges of sexual assault remain but the statement has been changed a bit.

The father said that the wrestler did record a statement a fresh statement in front of the magistrate while adding that the withdrawal of her complaint against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is baseless. However, in her new statement, she claimed that she wasn't a minor at the time of the assault by the former Wrestling Federation of India president.

This is expected to lead to the dropping of charges under the POCSO act (law against sexual assault on children) against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a BJP MP. While the jail term under the POCSO Act is seven years, the charges for sexual assault on an adult, under the relevant section of the Indian Penal Code, is two years.

Earlier, seven female wrestlers filed FIR against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for sexual harassment, of which only one claimed to be minor.

The report comes after the wrestlers' protest was put on pause till June 15 after Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik met with Union sports minister Anurag Thakur. The sports minister assured that the Delhi Police will file the chargesheet on the case by the abovementioned date.

Earlier Bajrang criticised media for their source-based reports, saying they spoke to the wrestlers' father right after reports were out on Tuesday and he vehemently denied it

"Should the country should trust the girl's father, who said they have not withdrawn any complaint or statement, or the so-called sources," he told NDTV. "We spoke to him (the girl's father) and he has denied it," he added.

The elite wrestlers have been staging a second protest against WFI's top brass since April after they expressed their dissatisfaction with the investigative efforts of the sports ministry-appointed ad-hoc committee.