Top wrestlers protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Thursday said that the Supreme Court’s decision to close proceedings on their petition was not a setback for them, PTI reported.
The wrestlers, in their petition, had sought a first information report against Wrestling Federation Of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who they have accused of sexually harassing several female players.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court closed the proceedings after noting that two FIRs have now been filed against Singh. The court also noted that seven complainants have been provided adequate security.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha allowed the petitioners to move the jurisdictional magistrate or the Delhi High Court if they felt that further directions were needed, according to The Indian Express. The court, however, did not entertain a plea to appoint a retired judge to monitor the investigation.
Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Vinesh Phogat, one of the protesting wrestlers, said that the petitioners will abide by the court’s order.
“Whatever the Supreme Court has done, we will be indebted to them from the bottom of our heart, because for six days the police didn’t even register an FIR,” she said. “When the Supreme Court ordered, only then the FIR was registered.”
Phogat said that the wrestlers have several options open in case their demands are not met.
“We knew what was in the hands of the Supreme Court,” she said, according to PTI. “Everyone’s hands are tied, because our country is governed by the Constitution and not by protests. Protests cannot force them to change Constitution.”
The athletes have been staging a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar since April 23 , demanding Singh’s arrest.
Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttar Pradesh, has denied the allegations and refused to step down from his post in the wrestling body.
The Delhi Police last week filed two FIRs against him, roughly four months after the wrestlers first went public with the charges.
On Wednesday night, the wrestlers alleged that they were manhandled and abused by the police while they were trying to bring folding beds to the protest site. Former wrestler Rajveer alleged that one policeman, who was drunk, abused Phogat and got involved in a scuffle with others.
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Wrestlers’ protest: For Indian sportspeople to feel safe, reforms are urgently needed
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