Top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia have called off their protest, claiming that the government has fulfilled its pledge to charge Wrestling Federation Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh with sexual harassment. They said that the fight will now be fought in court, not on the roads. Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik also announced they were taking a short break from social media.
Malik took to Twitter on Sunday to state that the “battle will now be fought in court and not on roads till justice is delivered.”
The wrestlers posted identical tweets yesterday in which they said that the government has fulfilled its promise of filing a chargesheet against Singh, a six-time BJP MP.
“As per the talks held on June 7, the government has implemented our demands. The Delhi Police on June 15 had submitted before the court the chargesheet after conducting a probe into allegations of sexual harassment (against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh), on the basis of an FIR filed by six women wrestlers. Now, the fight will continue in court and not on roads till justice is delivered,” the tweet posted by the three top grapplers read.
They further said that they will wait for fresh WFI elections which is scheduled to take place on July 11 as promised by the government.
“The process for fresh Wrestling Federation of India election has begun. The polls are scheduled to be held on July 11 as promised by the government. We will wait for the implementation of the promise,” the wrestlers said. Since the beginning of the year, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Vinesh Phogat have been organising rallies against Singh for alleged sexual harassment.
After being removed from their Jantar Mantar protest site on May 28, the grapplers suspended their demonstration till June 15 after Union sports minister Anurag Thakur informed them that a chargesheet will be filed against BJP MP Singh.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has moved the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections from July 6 to July 11. The election of WFI executive committee members will take place. According to an IOA letter, the incumbents of the positions of president, senior vice president, four vice presidents, secretary general and treasurer, two joint secretaries, and five executive members will be decided.
The deadline for submitting names for the electoral college is June 25 at 5:00 p.m. Each state/union territory will submit two nominees. According to the letter, all state/UT wrestling federations will nominate two members of their respective executive bodies to constitute the electoral collage for the election to elect the WFI’s executive committee.
On June 28, the electoral college will be prepared and displayed, distributed to affiliates, and published on the IOA/WFI websites.
Nominations for election will be accepted from June 29 to July 1 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The preparation and display of nominations received by returning officers will be completed by 1 p.m. on July 3. “The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on July 4 by 11 AM. The submission of the notice of withdrawal of candidates will be done between July 4 to July 7, till 5 PM. On July 8, a final list of candidates will be made by 11 AM,” the letter added.
Polling will be done on July 11 from 11 AM to 1:20 PM. The counting of votes will start from 1:30 PM and results will be declared on the same day.