Anurag Thakur tried to hush up matter: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat
Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Tuesday claimed that complaints related to sexual harassment had been hushed up by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in the past, and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur did the same. Phogat and other Indian wrestlers have been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, demanding the arrest of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over alleged sexual harassment.
Why does this story matter?
Two First Information Reports (FIR) were registered against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP on Friday by the Delhi Police after being pulled up by the Supreme Court (SC). A total of seven women wrestlers, including a minor girl, lodged complaints of sexual harassment against the chief of the WFI on April 21, but an FIR was not registered until a week later.
Phogat criticizes Thakur over poor handling of matter
As per the news agency IANS, Phogat claimed that the complainants had shared their ordeal with Thakur during a meeting, but he didn't do anything except constitute an oversight panel. The World Championship medalist also revealed that the wrestlers had met an official before they began their agitation at Jantar Mantar three months ago, but no action was taken.
Phogat details how harassment complaints were hushed up
"During the 2012 national camp, a sexual harassment complaint was lodged at a police station. Within 24 hours, that case was hushed up," said Phogat. "In 2014, a physio, who was also a trainer of Geeta Phogat, raised a similar matter, and he was removed from the camp within 24 hours. From that day, his wife could not participate in any competition," she added.
Here's why athletes resumed protest at Jantar Mantar last month
The agitating wrestlers had ended their protest in January after the Centre assured them that the matter would be investigated, and a five-member Wrestling Oversight Committee (WOC) was formed to probe the alleged sexual harassment charges against the WFI president. However, since the findings of the WOC were not made public, the wrestlers once again resumed their protest last month.
Police yet to record statements of protesting wrestlers
As of Tuesday, which is more than 10 days into the protest and more than three days after filing FIRs against the WFI chief, the police had yet to record the statements of the agitating athletes. Furthermore, no notice has been issued to Singh, who claimed on Monday that the wrestlers' agitation in Delhi was "expanding like Shaheen Bagh."
Details on WFI chief's background
Singh, a six-term MP from Uttar Pradesh, spent his youth in Ayodhya and entered politics in the 1980s during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. As per his 2019 election affidavit, the BJP leader was named in the Babri demolition case. The affidavit also mentioned four criminal cases, including one under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 307 (attempt to murder) and other serious offenses.
