Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik has made explosive allegations against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. In her recently released autobiography "Witness", the wrestler accused Singh of trying to sexually harass her in 2012.
In her book, Malik claims that during the Asian Junior Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Singh summoned her to his hotel room under the pretext of speaking with her parents. However, upon ending the call, Singh allegedly tried to molest her. Malik asserts that she pushed him away and fled the room, tearfully.
"Singh connected me to my parents. It seemed harmless. When I spoke to them telling them about my match and my medal, I remember thinking that perhaps nothing unsavoury might happen after all. But right after I ended the call, he tried to molest me while I was seated on his bed. I pushed him off and started to cry," she wrote in the book, according to excerpts published in the Times of India.
Also read: Babita Phogat responds to Sakshi Malik's charge about wrestlers' protest
She said that she kept quiet for so long as Brij Bhushan was powerful and she thought he could finish her career.
{{/usCountry}}She said that she kept quiet for so long as Brij Bhushan was powerful and she thought he could finish her career.
{{/usCountry}}Childhood Trauma
In another disturbing revelation, Malik shares an incident from her childhood where a tuition teacher touched her inappropriately. She concealed the abuse for fear of blame, only later confiding in her mother.
"I had been molested in my childhood too, but for a long time, I could not tell my family about it as I thought it was my fault. My tuition teacher used to harass me. He would call me over to his place for classes at odd times and sometimes tried to touch me. I was scared to go for my tuition classes but I could never tell my mom. This continued for a long time and I kept quiet about it," she wrote in the book. Malik, later, told her mother about this incident.
Protest Against Brij Bhushan
Malik, along with fellow wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, led a protest against Singh's alleged sexual misconduct.
The three had alleged that Sharan Singh, the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure. The case is still being heard in a Delhi court.
The protest ended after the wrestlers' march towards the new Parliament Building was halted by the Police on May 28, 2023.
The ad-hoc committee, that took over the administration of wrestling after WFI's suspension, exempted Bajrang and Vinesh from the 2023 Asian Games trials but Sakshi decided not to seek the favour as suggested by her colleagues.
Eventually, Sakshi did not compete while Vinesh suffered an injury before the Games and Bajrang failed to win a medal in Hangzhou.
Malik also expressed disappointment that Phogat and Punia's decision to accept exemption from the Asian Games trials tarnished the protest's image, making it appear "selfish."