The acquittal of BJP leader and former MP Brij Bhushan Singh on charges of serial sexual harassment brought by India’s most celebrated female wrestlers is deplorable. It is the culmination of an unequal battle in which power, influence and caste equations, enabled by the highest echelons of the ruling regime, ensured impunity at every level.

The complaints the women made to the authorities were systematically ignored. It was only when they sat on dharna in January 2023, gaining wide support from their sporting fraternity, that the government appointed an oversight committee to inquire into the allegations. The women withdrew their protest in good faith. But the committee’s report was a whitewash — kept secret, never even shared with the complainants. The women resumed their struggle and demanded an FIR. Their written complaints to the police ranged from groping, touching the breast and navel, to stalking, intimidation and demands for sexual favours in return for professional benefits. Brij Bhushan was, at........

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