Top Indian wrestlers continue street protests against wrestling chief over sexual harassment

NEW DELHI - Top Indian wrestlers, including Olympic medallists, have intensified their protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, whom they have accused of sexual harassment.

In what is the biggest MeToo moment in Indian sports, 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat, 28, has alleged that more than a dozen women wrestlers have been sexually harassed by WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, 66.

Mr Singh has denied the charges.

Ms Phogat has not said if she is among those who have been harassed. 

The police, following a Supreme Court intervention based on a plea by the wrestlers, last Friday filed two sexual harassment cases against Mr Singh – one by a minor and the other by seven women athletes – and opened investigations into the cases. The allegations include stalking and aggravated sexual assault.

But the protesters want him removed as WFI chief immediately and arrested.

Public sympathy has been growing amid widespread media coverage of top athletes, including Olympic bronze winners Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, sleeping on floor mats in a makeshift tent in Jantar Mantar, their protest site in the capital.

The wrestlers accused the police of abusing and assaulting them when they tried to bring in wood planks to create makeshift beds at the site on Wednesday night.

“Did we win medals for the nation to see such days?” asked Ms Phogat following the scuffle with the police and more than a week of protesting.

The police kept security tight on Thursday, regulating the flow of visitors to the protest site, as social activists and supporters from student groups, opposition parties and farmer organisations turned up to show their solidarity with the wrestlers.

This is the second protest in four months.

The wrestlers called off their first protest on Jan 21 after demonstrating for four days, following assurances from the sports ministry that it would investigate the sexual harassment allegations.

The wrestlers said they were forced to return to Jantar Mantar, as they were dissatisfied with the police who have yet to share their investigations into the allegations.

The wrestlers have also alleged corruption within the federation and said there is an environment of “fear and intimidation” in national camps.

Ms Phogat has also alleged that she was “mentally harassed and tortured” by Mr Singh after failing to get a medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The wrestlers are up against a particularly strong WFI chief.

Mr Singh, a political heavyweight, is a six-time MP from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, a politically important state which sends 80 MPs to Parliament. 

He has been the head of the WFI since 2011 and, according to Indian media reports, also owns more than 50 educational institutes.

He has accused opposition parties of being behind the wrestlers’ protest.

“I am completely innocent,” he told reporters.

Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Meenakshi Lekhi said on Thursday at a press conference that the federal government was treating the wrestlers’ complaint “very sensitively”.

“Two committees have been formed, and (an) investigation is going on as per the law,” she added.

Support for the wrestlers has poured in from the public as well as athletes, movie stars, opposition politicians and women activists.

Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, an Olympic gold medallist, said in a statement on Twitter that it “hurt” to see wrestlers “on the streets demanding justice”.

“They have worked hard to represent our great nation and make us proud. Pertaining authorities must take quick action in order to ensure that justice is served,” he said.

Sexual crimes against women are a real area of concern in India, which is seeking to provide a safe environment for women and girls.

India, which has a population of 1.35 billion, recorded 428,278 cases of crimes against women in 2021, an increase of 15.3 per cent from 2020.

Many cases also go unreported.

Women activists said the sight of India’s top athletes being forced to take to the streets to seek justice underlines the difficulties many victims face in speaking up and getting a police case registered. 

“If such influential women are not able to get justice and have to sit in a protest on the streets, what about women who don’t have a voice and can’t speak out?” asked Dr Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, a New Delhi-based non-profit.

“If they don’t get justice, a fallout is it pushes women to remain silent.”