Revealed: Why wrestlers have resumed their protest against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh

On April 23, top Indian wrestlers returned to Jantar Mantar to continue their protest after three months.

Top Indian wrestlers after a gap of three months have started their protests against the WFI (Wrestling Federation of India) president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh. As reported by the ANI,” Seven woman wrestlers have filed a police complaint against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment. The police complaint was filed on Friday with the Connaught Place Police Station in New Delhi.

The wrestlers further said, “We have taken this step as there has been no action taken since we lodged our protest with the sports ministry. We are now waiting for the police to take further action.”

The issue started way back in January and Anurag Thakur helped the wrestlers to solve the issue by appointing an Overseas committee which was led by Olympic medallist MC Mary Kom. Several leading wrestlers from the country (including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik) have expressed their unhappiness with the government-appointed Oversight Committee as they have not made any substantial progress in their investigation and also have not released the report in public.

Initially, the Overseas committee was given one month for the investigation and upon request the timeline was extended by weeks. The committee had Olympic medallist-wrestler, Yogeshwar Dutt, former badminton player Trupti Murgunde, former CEO of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme Rajesh Rajagopalan, and Radhica Sreeman.

Bajrang Punia iterated, “The federation is functioning and competitions are being conducted. All these activities portray us as wrong”. Brijbhushan Sharan Singh was allegedly seen as a chief guest at a competition held for age group categories. 

2016 Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik quipped, “We are tired now but we are hopeful that we will get some justice. We request Prime Minister Modi to listen to us and please put wrestling into safe hands. There is no action despite the submitting proof."