WFI Row: Investigation panel favoring Brij Bhushan in sexual abuse case, women wrestlers made serious allegations of molestation

The hearing of the sexual harassment case lodged by 6 female wrestlers against former Indian Wrestling Chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is to be held in Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court today. According to the information received, Vinod Tomar, who is very close to former Chief Brij Bhushan, will appear in court today. He is accused of sending a female wrestler to Singh. Meanwhile, women wrestlers have raised questions on the inquiry panel set up to look into the allegations against Singh, saying that the panel is not listening to us properly and is showing favoritism instead of conducting the investigation properly.

Please tell that when this matter increased, the government formed a panel of 6 members for this investigation. Including Mary Kom. After some time this panel submitted its report to the government. But what was in the report was not made public. Women wrestlers have alleged that the panel's probe has been riddled with bias.

In the 1600-page charge sheet, statements of 44 witnesses have been recorded. Apart from this, the statements of 6 complainants were also recorded under CrPC 164. Referring to the incident during the investigation, a wrestler said that even after giving a statement to the Oversight Committee, when I reached the Federation office, the accused was still staring at me in the wrong way.

His gesture created an uncomfortable situation for me. The wrestler says that even when she was getting her statement recorded, the video was stopped in between. I also asked the committee for a copy of the video of my statement. I am afraid that the entire statement given by me has not been recorded and it has been tampered with.

First of all, on January 18 this year, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik started a dharna at Delhi's Jantar Mantar and accused Brij Bhushan Singh, the then chief of the Wrestling Federation, of sexually abusing women wrestlers.

Three days later i.e. on January 21, after the controversy escalated, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur met the wrestlers and constituted a committee, but what was revealed in the report of the committee was not made public.

After this, on April 23, a large number of wrestlers again sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar and demanded that the strike would continue till Brij Bhushan's arrest. After this, on April 28, in the hearing of the petition of the wrestlers, on the orders of the Supreme Court, the Delhi Police arrested Brij Bhushan. Registered 2 FIRs in molestation and POCSO act.

Then on the night of May 3, there was a lot of clash between the wrestlers and the policemen at Jantar Mantar. Two days after this clash, a maha panchayat of Khaps of Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, and Punjab took place at Jantar Mantar. In this, a 15-day warning was given to the Central Government for the arrest of Brij Bhushan.

After that, on May 26, the wrestlers held a press conference and told that on May 28, they would march on foot from the picket site to the new Parliament House. Then on May 28, when the wrestlers tried to go for the maha panchayat in front of the new parliament building, the police stopped them.

On May 29, the wrestlers announced to shed the won medals in the Ganges. After this, on May 30, the wrestlers went to Haridwar Har Ki Pauri to exchange their medals. Where the wrestler agreed with the persuasion of farmer leader Naresh Tikait and did not shed the medal.

After this, in the investigation of Delhi Police, on June 3, 4 witnesses have been found in this case, who confirmed the allegations against Brij Bhushan. Then on June 4, the wrestlers had a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah. After the meeting, Vinesh, Sakshi, and Bajrang joined the duty in the Railways on 5th June.

Two weeks after this whole incident, the three main wrestlers tweeted that now we will fight the next battle in the court and we will keep raising our voices until Brij Bhushan is arrested.