Three months after their initial protests against the atrocities of the disgraced former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, India's top wrestlers are back on dharna at Jantar Mantar after the Connaught Place Police Station did not register an FIR against him for sexual harassment involving seven different women, including a minor.
In an update on the same, a member of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) called up one of the protesting wrestlers and tried to set up a meeting but they refused the same. Instead, the wrestlers said we would go by law this time. "Don't trust anybody there. If you want to come and meet us here at the protest site, you can."
"All support, even if it's political we are open to accept. Last time we didn't want to involve politics because we thought it would hamper our protest, but looking at the current situation where some political people are on the committee, we are open to accepting all support."
During the press conference on Sunday, Sakshi Malik, 2016 Rio Olympic Bronze medallist revealed the reason for reigniting their protests against the WFI.
“Complained at the CP police two days back. 7 girls had filed a complaint but till now the FIR has not been filed. One girl is even a minor among these girls so it should be a POCSO case. Request that, please an FIR is filed as soon as possible and is punished accordingly (confirming that a sexual harassment case has been filed against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh),” she said.
"We have waited for two and a half months and had a lot of faith that the government will give us their support. But since the oversight committee was formed, he has received no intimation about whether the report has been submitted or not. We have returned because we want to know what the result is. Because people are now thinking that we were wrong and we lied."
Vinesh Phogat broke down when asked about the response to the protests, adding, "We have undergone mental torture for the last three months because of this issue. This is about respect for women athletes. They win medals at the Olympic level. If we are not safe then how can we think about the future of other women wrestlers?"
"The person we are fighting against is a very strong personality. We do not know who all are supporting him just to save him. But we are asking the people of the nation for justice. We are also asking the High Court for justice. We will stay here, eat here, sleep here till we get justice.
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