WFI sexual harassment case: We gave chance to wrestlers to present their case, says Anurag Thakur

Union sports minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday claimed the government gave wrestlers protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) a chance to present their case before the oversight committee.

Thakur additionally reiterated the government’s commitment towards fair probe into the allegations of sexual harassment against former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the issue of which is at the heart of the sit-in protest staged by Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and other leading wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

“A few wrestlers are sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar. I have spent 12 hours hours with them — seven hours on the first day and five hours the next day (in January). I had listened to all their grievances, held a press conference at 2-2.30 at night, formed a committee after talking to them,” Thakur said in a press conference on Thursday, according to PTI.

“They had asked to add a member and gave Babita Phogat’s name, and we added her to the committee. There is nothing in our mind, we wanted an impartial probe.

“Whoever wanted to present their version before the oversight committee, was given a chance to do so, there were no restrictions. We even increased the timeline of the probe, there were 14 meetings. Whoever wanted to come, came. We gave a chance to every athlete to present their case,” added the Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur.

Read | IOA chief PT Usha says wrestlers’ protests against WFI ‘not good for sport’

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday announced the formation of an ad-hoc committee comprising former shooter Suma Shirur, Wushi Association of India president Bhupendra Singh Bajwa and a yet-to-be-named retired High Court judge to run the daily affairs at WFI.

The wrestlers had initially launched a protest at Jantar Mantar on 18 January earlier this year, but called it off after three days after talks with Thakur, whose intervention led to the formation of the six-member oversight committee led by boxing legend MC Mary Kom as well as wrestling icons Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Phogat.

Read | Babita Phogat claims oversight panel member snatched report from her

The committee had been given four weeks to investigate the allegations against Singh — a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gonda, Uttar Pradesh — the deadline of which later got extended. The committee, however, is yet to reveal the results of its probe three months after its formation, which has been cited by wrestlers as the reason for their return to Jantar Mantar.

Read | Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh indicates he won’t go down without a fight

“The major findings of the committee were that an impartial elections of WFI takes place, and till that time an ad-hoc committee takes over the affairs of WFI, and the elections be held under 45 days.

“An internal complaints committee be formed to address any mental, sexual harassment complaint. Not just that we have given the responsibility on IOA to look after all these matters, including selection of teams till the elections are held,” he said.

“If anyone wants to file an FIR he or she can do that anywhere and it should not matter how old the case may be. Delhi Police said that they will conduct a preliminary inquiry and after that they will take the next step,” Thakur, who had earlier served as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), added.

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