India’s top wrestlers protesting against their federation chief over sexual harassment allegations on Wednesday said that they would suspend their agitation for a week, PTI reported.
The announcement came after the wrestlers held a meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur that lasted for more than five hours.
The wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia as well as two-time World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, have been protesting in Delhi since April for the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. He is accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers, including a minor.
Singh, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, has been booked by the Delhi Police in two cases after the Supreme Court intervened in the matter.
Thakur on Wednesday said that the government has assured the wrestlers that the investigation against Singh will be completed by June 15 and a chargesheet will be filed, ANI reported. The minister added that elections to the Wrestling Federation of India will be held by June 30.
Thakur said that all cases filed against the wrestlers on May 28 will be withdrawn.
Punia, Malik and Phogat were booked by the Delhi Police for rioting and obstructing public servants from discharging their duty after they tried to lead a march towards the new Parliament complex in New Delhi that was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the time.
The wrestlers were manhandled by the Delhi Police and were detained at several police stations for about ten hours.
Malik and Punia on Wednesday said that the agitation had not been ended, but had only been suspended till June 15 on the request of the government.
Meetings to break deadlock
On Tuesday the Centre had invited the protesting wrestlers for another round of discussion on the matter. The wrestlers had met Thakur earlier in January when they had first started their protest against Singh.
Following marathon talks with Thakur in January, the sports had ministry formed an oversight panel, headed by boxer MC Mary Kom, to investigate the matter. However, the wrestlers resumed the protests in April after no concrete action was taken against Singh.
Tuesday’s development came after the wrestlers met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 3 at his official residence.
Punia told NDTV that the government told him and the protestors that an investigation into the case was underway. He added the protestors were told not to discuss the meeting with Shah.
“The protest movement hasn’t died down, it will continue,” Punia said. “We have been strategising on how to take it forward. The athletes aren’t satisfied with the government’s response, neither is the government agreeing to our demands.”
He said that the wrestlers will not withdraw their protest based on assurances from the government. “We had gone back in January based on the government’s assurances, but were later declared liars,” the wrestler said.
Last week, Thakur had accused the protesting wrestlers of “changing goalposts” and cautioned them to not take any step that could hurt the sport or other athletes, according to NDTV.
“The athletes themselves had said that the platform is not for doing politics,” Thakur said, referring to visits by Opposition leaders to Jantar Mantar, where the wrestlers had been protesting earlier. “But later political parties came and went and shared this platform.”
As wrestlers continue to demand Singh’s arrest, the BJP MP has remained unfazed and maintained that the allegations against him are false.
However, details of the first information reports against the politician have shown that he demanded sexual favours in exchange for professional help from at least two female wrestlers and harassed over half a dozen players.
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