Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has finally broken his silence on the ongoing wrestlers' protest against the sidelined chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. India's ace grapplers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik are protesting against disgraced WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been charged of sexual harassment of female wrestlers. The wrestlers have vowed to continue the protest unless their demands of sending Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh behind the bars.
While speaking on the Wrestlers' protest Ganguly said that let them fight their battle.
“Let them fight their battle. I don’t know what’s happening there, I just read in the newspapers. In the sports world, I realised one thing that you don’t talk about things you don’t have complete knowledge of," said Sourav Ganguly.
“I hope it gets resolved as the wrestlers have won so many medals and brought a lot of big accolades to the country," he further added.
Before Ganguly, many sports personalities including the likes of Kapil Dev, Neeraj Chopra voiced their support for the wrestlers but ex-BCCI's president's reaction on the same didn't go down well with the fans as thy started bashing him left, right and centre for not standing up for the cause. While Twitterati were seen calling Ganguly spineless and coward, some accused him of playing it safe.
Here are the reactions…
Talking about the protest, the resolute Wrestlers are undeterred by Supreme Court's latest verdict to close the sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and had vowed on Thursday (May 4), that they will continue their protest whatsoever.
After directing Delhi Police to file FIRs against the disgraced president of WFI Brij Bhushan for sexual harassment, the apex court gave a verdict on May 4 to close the proceedings despite police vowed to launch a ‘completely independent and impartial’ investigation by a team led by a senior woman IPS officer. Supreme Court's decision came after ensuring the adequate security for the seven complainants, including one minor.
"We respect the Supreme Court order, protest will continue. Supreme Court order is not a setback, it did what it could in this matter," Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik had said.
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala said the wrestlers had moved the apex court specifically seeking registration of an FIR. The police have since then registered two FIRs against Singh. One of the FIR separately deals with offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act allegedly committed against a minor.
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