IOA to elect executive committee of top wrestling body amid wrestlers' protest
Vinesh Phogat said, “We don't want the girls, who have spoken against Brij Bhushan and his sexual assaults on them, to suffer.”
Indian Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat and other top wrestlers have returned to Delhi's Jantar Mantar to protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly sexually assaulting women wrestlers, and thanked all elders and Khap Panchayat members for supporting the protests.
“We wish to thank all of our elders and Khap Panchayat members, who had come last time too to protest with us and support us. We apologise for the politics that was played with us and the mistakes that we made because of that. We are sorry that you came to support us and stand with us and we ended the protests in haste," Phogat said in a press briefing.
Phogat added, "We have been cheated and politics was played with us. We don't want the girls, who have come after us into wrestling and have spoken against Brij Bhushan and his sexual assaults on them, to suffer. If these women should get justice, if they don't then many girls will leave wrestling and choose other games or their families might just keep them from participating in sports altogether.”
The wrestler wrote, “Request with folded hands to all our elders and khap panchayats.”
She further said in the video, “This is a fight for our self-respect. In this fight for our future, self-respect and wrestling, please stand with us. We have been sitting at Jantar Mantar since last night and we need your support.”
The wrestlers returned to Jantar Mantar three months after the women wrestlers sat on protests, in January, levelling sexual harassment charges against the WFI president and other coaches of the institution.
The wrestlers sat on a protest again on Sunday claiming that the promises that were made to them were not held up and their demands had not been fulfilled despite assurances.
As wrestling is an Olympic sport, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports wrote a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) urging the latter to set up a “transitory or Ad-Hoc Committee” to conduct the election for an Executive Committee of WFI.
The letter said, “It is requested that a transitory committee or Ad-Hoc Committee may be constituted by the IOA to conduct the election of the Executive Committee of the WFI within 45 days of its formation and, to manage the affairs of WFI. including the selection of athletes and making of entries for the participation of sportspersons in international events, for the interim period till the newly elected Executive Committee takes charge.”
The Ministry has also set up an Oversight Committee (OC) to look into the WFI allegations made by the wrestlers.
The letter mentions that the OC submitted its report to the Ministry and while the report was being examined, the following were the points mentioned in the letter in “preliminary scrutiny”.
“i) 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.; ii) Need for more transparency and consultation between the Federation and stakeholdersincluding the sportspersons; iii) Need for effective communication between the Federation and the sportspersons.”
