IMAGE: Wrestlers speak with the media after a scuffle broke out between police and the protesting wrestlers on Wednesday. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI
Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur on Friday said that Delhi Police is conducting an unbiased investigation into the demands of wrestlers and requested them to allow the probe to finish.
“A demand was there to form a committee and it was constituted. FIR has been registered by Delhi police, and Supreme Court also gave its verdict. Delhi Police is conducting a fair investigation,” said the Union Minister.
The Union Minister said that free and fair elections of the Wrestling Federation of India has been taken into consideration and that the Indian Olympic Association is working towards it.
“They asked for a committee which has been already constituted,” Thakur said on the sidelines of an event in Lucknow.
On April 23 Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Mallik returned to the protest site at Jantar Mantar. They claimed that six women wrestlers, and a minor, filed a sexual harassment complaint against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Connaught Place Police Station but Delhi Police did not register an FIR. The protesting grapplers also wanted the Ministry to make public the findings of the Oversight Committee.
Seven days into the protest, police registered two FIRs against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation of women wrestlers by him.
“I request the players that their demands are being fulfilled and they should allow the investigation to be completed,” Anurag Thakur told ANI.
Three months ago prominent wrestlers came forward to lead a protest against the WFI chief following which the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced the formation of an ‘oversight committee’ to probe allegations against the WFI, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and some coaches.
The protesting wrestlers have made it clear that they won’t move until they get justice and Brij Bhushan be removed as the WFI chief and put behind bars.
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