NEW DELHI: The top wrestlers in India have called off their protests after a senior minister promised them a prompt probe into sexual harassment charges against their federation’s chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
According to the BBC, the protesters had been camping out in Delhi since April, calling for Singh’s arrest. They met with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday and talked for over six hours. Thakur said the police would complete their investigation into Singh by June 15. He claimed that the wrestlers had assured him that no protests would take place till then.
Wrestlers’ elections
The government has also agreed to hold elections for the executive committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by 30 June, with no seat for Singh or any of his closest associates in the new panel.
After the discussion, Thakur told The Indian Express that it is preferable for the country to have award-winning grapplers on the mat rather than on the roads. Wrestlers began protesting in January but called it off the following month after India’s sports ministry stripped Singh of administrative powers for a few weeks and the government agreed to investigate their complaints.
The protest camp was evacuated last month, and some wrestlers were briefly detained as they attempted to march to India’s new parliament.
The police also filed rioting charges against them. Images of athletes being pulled and carried away in buses went viral, prompting criticism from top athletes and opposition leaders. On May 30, the wrestlers threatened to throw their medals into the Ganges, India’s holiest river, prompting a protest delegation to meet with Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence last week.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport’s international governing body, both issued comments denouncing the wrestlers’ treatment. They also criticized the “lack of results” in Singh’s investigations.
So far, the police have filed two cases against Singh, one of which is a violation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).
Singh claimed that the law was being misused. He has been questioned by police but has not yet been arrested. Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia, who was part of the delegation that met Thakur on Wednesday, said the government guaranteed them that the police investigations into Singh will be completed by next week. He further stated that if no action is taken by the 15th of June, they will continue their protest.
