High-profile grapplers like Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, among others, have returned to Jantar Mantar to resume protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, over sexual allegations on him laid by several female wrestlers earlier. Following reports of Brij Bhushan walking away with a clean chit due to the lack of evidence, the international medal winners returned to raise their voice again on Sunday in New Delhi.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!As reported by IANS, wrestlers present at Jantar Mantar revealed they even received threats after they tried lodging an FIR against the WFI chief at the Parliament Street Police station; however, the police refused to do so for reasons unknown yet.
“We are getting threats from several quarters, and after waiting for more than two months; we tried to file a complaint at thana (police station), but the police officers shooed us away. We don’t know what is happening here. We will start our protest again and sit on dharna (protest) at Jantar Mantar till our demands are met,” the unnamed wrestler told IANS, as quoted by Times of India.
Early this year, several women wrestlers came forward and protested at the Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan Singh for sexually harassing them in the past on a few occasions. The matter reached the Sports Ministry, who appointed an Oversight Committee under the chairmanship of veteran boxer MC Mary Kom to look into the matter and bring out the truth.
At that time, the person in question, Brij Bhushan Singh, had said, “As I came to know that wrestlers had started protesting in Delhi, I didn’t know what the allegation was about. I came to Delhi with a ticket.”
He added, “Regarding the allegation that Vinesh has made [of sexual exploitation], is there anyone coming forward with these allegations? Is there any athlete whose come forward with these allegations & said the Fed pres. has done some sort of sexual assault?” he said.
“It is alleged that the federation is acting like a dictator. Neither will you give trial, nor will you fight at the national level. The problem is when the federation makes the rules. These players, who are sitting on dharna today, not even a single one of them fought in the national,” Bhushan added.
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