NEW DELHI: “This time, all parties are welcome to join our protest whether it is BJP, Congress, AAP, or any other party. We are not affiliated with any party,” Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia said as India’ top wrestlers resumed their protests against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Singh is accused of sexually harassing athletes. The return of the wrestlers to the protest site comes 3 months after they created a stir by taking their fight against the WFI and its president.
Calling for supporters, the top wrestlers said that they will remain at the protest site till police file a complaint against Brij Bhushan. It must be noted that the elite athletes in the January protests had request left leader Vrinda Karat to leave the stage as it was an “athletes protest”.
“We will not believe anyone blindly. Last time we were misled. We hope this time there is no politics in this case,” says Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
“We have been trying to contact them (Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and other relevant authorities) for three months. The members of the committee are not responding to us, sports ministry has also not said anything, they don’t even pick up our calls. We have won medals for the country and have put our careers at stake for this,” she added.
On Sunday, interacting with a journo Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat said they were forced to return to Jantar Mantar after the Delhi Police failed to register an FIR against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The wrestlers detailed that they had filed a complaint at the Connaught Place police station in New Delhi on Friday but an FIR was not filed yet.
“We made a complaint at CP Police Station. It has been two days, but no FIR has been registered yet. Seven women complained, which also includes a minor. It makes for a POSCO case, but nothing has been done yet,” Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik said.
Seven women wrestlers have filed a sexual harassment complaint against federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at the Connaught Place police station in Central Delhi