Several Indian wrestlers, including former Olympic medalists, demonstrated Monday in the streets of New Delhi to demand the arrest of the former president of their federation, accused of sexual harassment and practices of intimidation. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, also a parliamentarian from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling Hindu nationalist party, is the subject of an investigation commissioned by the Indian Olympic Committee.
The wrestlers, who demonstrated in January to obtain the creation of this commission of inquiry, believe that things are not moving fast enough. Singh “is a powerful parliamentarian from the ruling party,” said Sakshi Malik, bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics in 2016, on Monday. “Athletes fear for their lives but nevertheless showed courage. And yet no action has been taken, it is completely demoralizing,” she added to reporters.
“We are now calling on all athletes, all political parties and all veterans of the struggle to join us,” she continued. Several athletes, including a minor, filed a sexual assault complaint against Singh on Friday. The police have not yet formally opened an investigation for the former president of the Indian Wrestling Federation (WFI), who stepped down in January after the creation of the commission of inquiry.
“If things continue like this, it will obviously go against the will of the athletes”, commented for his part the wrestler Bajrang Punia, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia have clarified that the protest movement would continue until Singh’s arrest. The former Indian wrestling boss has dismissed the charges, saying he is the victim of a political plot to oust him from parliament.
According to the television channel NDTV, the federal government is on the point of dissolving the Federation and transferring its prerogatives to a temporary body while organizing new elections, in which Singh could not take part.
