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‘Why silent?’: Kapil Sibal questions PM Modi over wrestlers' protest
The protesting wrestlers and various oppposition leaders, have called for Brij Bhushan Singh to be removed from his post till inquiries are completed.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Saturday demanded to know why prime minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah have not yet commented on the determined protest by wrestlers who have accused national federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of intimidation and sexual assault. Brij Bhushan Singh is a Member of Parliament from the prime minister's Bharatiya Janata Party and continues to head the Wrestling Federation of India despite Delhi Police having filed two FIRs (after a Supreme Court hearing) against him.
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The protesting wrestlers and those supporting them, including various oppposition leaders, have called for Brij Bhushan Singh to be removed from his post till inquiries are completed.
"Brij Bhushan... 2 Wrestlers to police: ... Allegation: On pretext of checking breath, touched... My question: Is he so important for UP elections that can’t be removed as President of Federation till investigation is over? What about your (the prime minister's) slogan: 'Beti bachao…' Why PM, HM silent ?" the senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP tweeted.
The tweet was in reference to a newspaper article by the Indian Express headlined 'On pretext of checking breath, Brij Bhushan touched breast, stomach: 2 wrestlers to police'.
The article says 'multiple incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct that include groping, inappropriate touching and physical contact... have been put on record...' in complaints made by women wrestlers. The complaints, filed individually, were registered at Delhi's Connaught Place Police Station on April 21; there were eight in total.
Sibal is among a number of opposition leaders to have supported the wrestlers, who first made the allegations against Brij Bhushan in January and have seen little progress since.
A committee set up investigate the claims submitted a report that was not made public - a key demand - and that was followed by the WFI calling for an election (which Brij Bhushan - a three-time BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj - said he would not contest).
He remains in charge of the sporting body for now.
Last week, Sibal posted an 'insaaf ke sipahi', or 'soldiers of justice', tweet to underline his support for the protesting wrestlers led by Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat.
All three and several others have been camped out at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for nearly a fortnight now. Earlier this week there was a scuffle between some of their supporters and Delhi Police personnel that triggered a blame game. The wrestlers said women in their camp were assaulted by drunk cops while the police blamed wrestlers' supporters for the clash.
The 'scuffle' resulted in a tearful rebuke by the wrestlers, who declared medals and awards conferred on them by the Indian government were of no use in the face of such 'abuse'.
On Friday union sports minister Anurag Thakur said the police were conducting an impartial inquiry and were working towards meeting the demands of the protesting wrestlers.
(With inputs from agencies)
