Top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists and a minor, petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday for registration of a criminal case on their sexual harassment complaints against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, turning down the sports ministry’s call for negotiations.
Approaching the top court after their repeated attempts to convince Delhi Police to register a first information report (FIR) on their April 21 complaint didn’t yield results, the wrestlers mentioned their plea through senior advocate Narendra Hooda before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud for an urgent hearing. As the petition was not cleared by the registry for mentioning, the CJI asked Hooda to mention it before him on Tuesday after complying with the standard procedure.
“We want an FIR to be lodged and a fair probe conducted so that the matter reaches its logical legal conclusion. Clearly, the Delhi Police is under political pressure; if this was a regular case, the accused would have been arrested by now. The complainants include a minor, so a case under Pocso must also be registered,” Hooda said.
The petitioners, led by wrestler Vinesh Phogat, have told the court they do not expect justice from the government or the police as Singh is a ruling party MP. The petition has made the Commissioner of Police and SHO of Connaught Place police station as respondents while seeking registration of an FIR on the complaints that stretch from 2012 till last year.
{{/usCountry}}The petitioners, led by wrestler Vinesh Phogat, have told the court they do not expect justice from the government or the police as Singh is a ruling party MP. The petition has made the Commissioner of Police and SHO of Connaught Place police station as respondents while seeking registration of an FIR on the complaints that stretch from 2012 till last year.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing a press conference at Jantar Mantar on the second day of their sit-in protest, the wrestlers urged all political parties and khap panchayats to come out in their support. This marked a change from January when they had appealed to keep the protests apolitical.
“We have learned our lessons. Now we won’t deny any support coming our way, be it political or otherwise,” Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, Bajrang Punia, said.
“Whenever we come home after winning medals, all politicians line up for pictures with us. Why is the Prime Minister silent today? When we get medals, you stand with us for pictures, now when we are sleeping on pavements, where are you?” the 29-year-old said.
The Union sports ministry issued an order on Monday directing the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to form a transitory or ad hoc committee to run the WFI and also prepare for fresh elections, annulling the federation’s earlier announcement that it would elect its new office-bearers on May 7. Singh, who has completed three four-year terms, is ineligible to seek re-election as WFI president.
The statement highlighted three points from the inquiry report submitted by the ministry’s oversight committee headed by boxing icon MC Mary Kom before which the wrestlers had deposed. It did not refer to any issues related to Singh but said a preliminary scrutiny of the report had led to three “major findings”.
“Absence of a duly constituted Internal Complaints Committee under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, 2013, and lack of an adequate mechanism for awareness building among sportspersons, for grievance redressal, etc”, “need for more transparency and consultation between the Federation and stakeholders, including the sportspersons”, and “need for effective communication between the Federation and the sportspersons” were the three findings.
A senior Delhi Police officer said seven wrestlers have accused Singh of sexual harassment between 2012 and 2022. “As per their complaints, the harassment took place at Brij Bhushan’s MP bungalow on Ashoka Road on four occasions. They have also alleged that they were sexually harassed during international tournaments outside India. We have asked the sports ministry to provide the reports of their probe committee. Once that comes, we’ll lodge the FIR,” the officer said, asking not to be named.
IOA president, PT Usha, said on Monday evening that its executive committee would meet on Thursday to discuss the controversy following the sports ministry’s directive.
As the day wore on, representatives of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), women’s wing of the Congress, the Bhartiya Kisan Union, the AIDWA, and community leaders reached the venue to sit in solidarity with the wrestlers.
Vinesh Phogat dismissed apprehensions that the protest could be hijacked by political parties. “We have nothing to lose. This is a desperate plea to tell people what we have gone through. We won’t call off the protest unless justice is served,” she said.
The wrestlers dismissed the sports ministry’s announcement as eyewash. “We’re being fooled for the past three months and this act by the ministry is another attempt to take us for a ride. We were too naive the last time, but this time we won’t budge till our demands are met,” Punia said.
In the evening, the ministry sent Sports Authority of India (SAI) deputy DG, Shiv Sharma, to meet the protesting wrestlers. Sharma and Phogat were seen in discussion for over an hour. “The ministry has tried to be as accommodating as possible. The delay in the submission of the report was due to the late addition of Babita Phogat, who was included in the committee at the behest of the protesting wrestlers. I urge you to come to sort out the issue with negotiations,” Sharma told the wrestlers. Babita Phogat, a former wrestler, is a BJP member.
Vinesh Phogat, after meeting Sharma, said: “The time for negotiations is long gone. If the ministry was serious, things wouldn’t have come to such a pass. Babita came to negotiate but she is with the BJP. We don’t trust anyone anymore.”