‘Nothing done…’: Indian wrestlers return to protest site after 3 months, reiterate sexual harassment claims against WFI
2 min read . Updated: 23 Apr 2023, 07:58 PM IST
PremiumTop Indian wrestlers had led a sit-in protest in Jantar Mantar in January this year, demanding that Brij Bhushan be removed from the head office and WFI be disbanded. They had accused the body and its chief of sexual harassment and mistreatment of wrestlers.
Months after levelling sexual harassment allegations against WFI chief Brij Bhushan, Indian wrestlers returned to their protest site on Sunday. Top athletes including ace wrestler Bajrang Punia alleged that nothing had been done so far to resolve their issues. The protesters had also sought the dissolution of the Wrestling Federation of India.
“We have just one issue. The reason for the protest is that nothing has been done so far...We are here to save wrestling," said wrestler Bajrang Punia as he and several other wrestlers headed to Jantar Mantar. He added that a police complaint had also been filed at the Connaught Place Police Station.
Fellow wrestler Sakshi Malik broke down while interacting with the media, insisting that ‘no one was listening’. She asserted that the protesters were being ‘framed as liars’ and had been waiting for nearly three months.
“We wanted to file a sexual harassment FIR against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. We got a complaint filed two days ago but FIR has not been registered yet. There are seven female wrestlers and one of them is a minor. We want the investigation to happen fast. It is a sensitive matter," she told the media.
Earlier in January this year, top Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya and Sakshi Malik had held a sit-in protest in Jantar Mantar/ They demanded that Brij Bhushan be removed from the head office and Wrestling Federation of India be disbanded. They had accused the body and its chief of sexual harassment and mistreatment of wrestlers.
An ‘oversight committee’ headed by Olympic medalist Mary Kom was formed in response to the protests. The committee was given the task of submitting a report on the issue to the ministry. However in early April, Punia said that the wrestlers will go to court to protest against the committee's report.
"I read an article in which one of the committee members said that the report has been submitted to the Sports ministry without his signatures. The member also expressed his/her disagreement with the report. If a committee member is not involved in report submission and disagrees with the report, how are we supposed to trust it? "We were not even informed that the report was submitted to the ministry," Punia had told ANI.
(With inputs from agencies)