Close to 270 prominent feminists and members of womens’ groups in India have condemned the acquittal of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former MP (BJP) and the erstwhile President of the Wrestlers Federation of India (WFI) on charges of sexual harassment and have expressed their solidarity with wrestlers who have courageously waged a fight for justice against all odds. The signatory women have also hailed Indian women wrestlers and their fight for justice, while pledging support in the appeal against the acquittal of Brij Bhushan Singh, former President of the Wrestlers Federation.
The signatories include senior lawyer Indira Jaising, academician Uma Chakravarti, social activist Aruna Roy, PUCL India President Kavita Srivastava, Kalyani Menon Sen, publisher Urvashi Butalia, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai, author and activist, Teesta Setalvad, activists Sujata Gothaskar and Shabnam Hashmi, women’s leaders Jagmati Sangwan and Annie Raja and Nisha Sidhu of National Federation of Indian Women, Maimoona Mollah of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), Lalita Ramdas, Syeeda Hameed, Meena Saraswati Seshu, transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj, lawyer Lara Jesani, Govind Kelkar, academic Shilpa Phadke and journalists Rituparna Chatterjee and Laxmi Murthy.
In their statement, they observed that the legal struggle was not easy from day one. The filing of the FIR after a public protest by the wrestlers that turned violent and the entire period of trial which lasted more than two years saw a legal team led by Sr. Adv Rebecca John who left no stone unturned in eliciting sound testimonies from the violated wrestlers and presenting powerful arguments to the court.
The statement said that “the judgement has acquitted the accused but the fight will continue for justice.” The womens’ organisations and individual feminists have demanded the implementation of POSH in the sports arena, a safe playing field be created for all, free of political interference and the crass use of money and muscle power said that they will continue to support the wrestlers in the struggle for creating a sexual harassment free wrestling arena and its spin off in other sports fields.
Womens’ groups and Feminists Hail Our Wrestlers and Their Lawyers Fighting for Justice
In the statement, the signatories who include members of women’s’ organisations and independent feminists in India stated that “they are are shocked at the acquittal of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former MP (BJP) and the erstwhile President of the Wrestlers Federation of India by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwini Panwar of the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi.”
Further, the statement said that, “While the full order is yet to be shared in the public domain, our detailed comments on its merits, or demerits as the case may be, will follow. However, at this point, we stand in solidarity with our courageous wrestlers who never said die. We hail the fight for justice against seemingly impossible odds, as they waged an inspiring battle against the highly politicised power structures of sports associations in India, where money and muscle power rule the arena.
Tracing the timeline of the case, the statement reads,
“The FIRs were lodged in April 2023 on the intervention of the Supreme Court of India, due to the public pressure created by the dharna of wrestlers, who left their training and other commitments, jeopardising their careers as they took on Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and his supporters on the streets. Of the two FIRs lodged against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, one was from a minor and the second was by five wrestlers.
“Prior to this, the wrestlers were forced to make numerous representations before a series of committees, held meetings with the Union Sports Minister, the Chairperson of the Indian Olympic Association and other officers but all these efforts, instead of responding to their genuine grievances, resulted in attempts to silence the complainants.
“We recall the manner in which the wrestlers had to struggle for over six months for just the right to wage a legal battle on their sexual harassment charge against Singh in April 2023.
“The effective struggle in the month of April – May 2023, led by the wrestlers in Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the alleged harasser, brought people from all over India, including senior sports persons, farmers, students, women and human rights groups, was met with a violent backlash by the Delhi police, who used excessive force to stop the marchers to march to the new Parliament, on May 28, 2023. This crackdown was followed by mass scale detention of the marchers and the wrestlers.
“Undeterred the wrestlers did not give up and tried to come back to Jantar Mantar to continue their protest. The state fear of these women was such that huge barricades were erected to stop any further agitation.
“Nevertheless the focus of the Wrestlers became the legal battle, with the Chargesheet being filed on June 15, 2023.
“The struggle and public pressure also forced an otherwise intransigent Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to refrain from standing for the next elections of WFI. He, however, ensured that his supporter would be elected. The BJP dropped him from the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Kaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh but his son was fielded in his stead and won the seat.
“From day one, the legal struggle was not easy. In the month of May 2023 itself, the minor who was also a complainant, of sexual harassment by BBSS changed her statement, news reports of that period claimed that the family was brought under a lot of pressure. And could not withstand the consequences of taking on Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“The entire period of trial which lasted more than two years, from May 2024 when charges against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh were framed to date, saw three of the witnesses present robust statements and courageously take on the cross examination, although two of the five complainants changed their statements.
Specifically , the statement makes mention of and congratulates the legal team led by senior advocate Rebecca John who left no stone unturned in eliciting sound testimonies from the violated wrestlers and presenting powerful arguments to the court.
While, today the judgement has acquitted the accused but the fight will continue for justice. The wrestlers who spoke out and struggled, despite being victimised in their careers by the federation, still have a large support of the people. We stand by them in their challenge to this judgement in the higher court.
The struggle of the last three and a half years, has also initiated an awareness within the sports arena, where POSH and its predecessor Vishakha Guidelines which had remain un-implemented, were brought in under Supreme Court directives. As women’s organisations and members of the women’s movement in India, the women signatories have stated that they will continue to support the wrestlers in the struggle for creating a sexual harassment free wrestling arena and its spin off in other sports fields. They have also demanded that POSH be implemented in the sports arena and that sportspeople who raise complaints are protected, instead of being penalised and silenced. Further they have demanded that “a safe playing field be created for all, free of political interference and the crass use of money and muscle power.”
List of Signatories
- Kavita Srivastava
- Navsharan Singh
- Geeta Seshu
- Amita sheereen
- Mamta Jaitly
- Padma Singh
- Annie Raja
- Sankalpa Satapathy
- Smitha kumar
- Nandini Rao
- Amrita
- Ladkumari jain
- Purwa Kushwaha
- Abhilash Durugkar
- Smita Gupta
- Nivedita Menon
- Koel Chatterji
- Nisha Biswas
- Avanti Deshpande
- Lara Jesani
- Feminists in Resistance
- Joycia
- K. Sreemathy
- Shabnam
- Seema jain
- Pamela Philippse
- Shalini Gera
- Manju Lata Sanhghatan (मंजू लता संगठन)
- Madhusree Dutta
- Chanda Asani
- Nymphea Reddy
- Shobhita
- Laxmi Murthy
- Anuradha Kapoor
- Muskan Tibrewala
- Adv Dr Shalu Nigam
- Kalpana Chakravarthy
- Shilpa Phadke
- Radha Kumar
- Runu
- Anwiti
- Priyakshi Agarwal
- Rituparna Chatterjee
- Kritika S
- Lalita
- Anita bhartiya
- Vanita Mukherjee
- sheba chhachhi
- Rakhi Sehgal
- Sharanya
- Avisikta Aditya
- Sharanya Nayak
- Sujata Patel
- Arundhati Dhuru
- Kumudini Pati
- Manisha Chaudhry
- Ramlath Kavil
- Jahan Ara
- Vanita Mukherjee
- Uma Shankari
- Monisha Behal
- Sagari Ramdas
- Dr dyuti A
- Seethalakshmi
- Jagmati Sangwan
- Suvidha
- Meena Saraswathi Seshu
- Sajaya
- Sanju Sadaneera
- Meenakshi Sethi Zaidi
- Mitra Mukherjee Parikh
- Vidhi Churiwala
- Archana Srivastava
- Shabnam Hashmi
- Cynthia Stephen
- Priscilla Rawade
- Nisha Siddhu
- Jashodhara Dasgupta
- B
- Mudit Singhal
- Chaitanya Reddy
- Manisha Banerjee
- Alaka Basu
- Varsha
- Sanjeev Chandan
- Kavitha Muralidharan
- Mona Mishra
- Varna Sri Raman
- Sanjay Madhav
- Adv Vertika Mani
- Nandini N
- Vishal Solanki
- Rachel A J
- Sushma Varma
- Rishika Agarwal
- Aruna Gnanadason
- Shikha bhardwaj
- Vijay Rukmini Rao
- Anurita
- Sujata Gothoskar
- Suneeta Dhar
- Ammu Joseph
- Norat Mal
- Teesta Setalvad
- Sohini Bhattacharya
- Amit Ambedkar
- Kiran Moghe
- Virginia Saldanha
- Indira C
- Subramanian
- Soudhari varalaxmi
- Anjali
- Geetha Nambisan
- Elina Horo
- Dev Desai
- Leena Dabiru
- Lakshmi Lingam
- Dr RuShashi Puri
- AS Vasanta
- Yamini Dikshit
- Mary E John
- Anjali Bhardwaj
- Shashi Puri
- Amrita Johri
- Rati Rao E
- Anwesha Banerjee
- Parvathi Nair
- Prof F Minusia
- Malavika
- Nandini Manjrekar
- Shweta Raj
- D
- Roger Samuel
- Biraj
- Rinchin
- Vani Subramanian
- Inee koshi
- Sehjo singh
- Harish Pejavar
- Anuvinda
- Anita Mathur
- Devyani bhardwaj
- Indira Jaising
- Malik
- Bindhulakshmi Pattadath
- Ritambhara
- Mrs Kamlesh Dagar
- Mridula Mukherjee
- Bhavna Sharma
- Sudha Shankar
- Kamal
- Sejal Joshi
- Sirimane Nagaraj
- Veena Shatrugna
- Riddhima Sharma
- Beena Pallical
- Geetha
- Purwa Bharadwaj
- Hemalatha Shenoy
- Maya Chilwal
- Sudha Goparaju
- Renu Khanna
- Sadhna
- Deepa Bhushan
- Mallige Sirimane
- Hemalatha
- Anuradha GR
- Sunita Lakra
- sandhya Phadke
- Alka
- Urvashi Butalia
- Alka Ranjan
- Sarika Sinha
- Vijayakumar
- Sumana Ray
- Ranjani
- Clifton D’ Rozario
- Jyothi
- Rita Chadha
- Kalyani Menon Sen
- Rajiv Lochan Sah
- Lata Bhise Sonawane
- Meghna Nair
- Nonibala Narengbam
- Deepti Mary Minj
- Kiran
- Koninika Ray
- Palashka
- Yashodhara
- Ritash
- Anuja
- Deepa
- Kamini Tankha
- Sandeep
- Poonam Kaushik
- Minakshi Singh
- singh
- Ammu Abraham
- Madhuri
- Swarnamala Sirsi
- Deepa
- Seema e
- Nalini Nayak
- Sudhir Vombatkere
- Savita
- Maimoona Mollah
- Ramya
- Asha V.
- Gouthami
- Kavitha Gajendran
- Raynah Marise
- Susheela K
- Prasad Chacko
- Nivedita jha
- Sanyogita Dhamdhere
- Manjeet Rathee
- Komal Srivastava
- Shakeel
- Mallika Sarabhai
- Aruna Roy
- Tanuja Sharma
- Satish Kumar Singh
- Madhuri
- Anupama
- Prasanna Moses
- Karuna DW
- Syeda hameed
- Kaninika Ghosh
- Sathya
- Ritika
- Reena Mohan
- Shilpi Gulati
- Archana
- Roselle Solomon
- Natasha Badhwar
- Davy Tim
- Komal saigal
- Indira Jaising
- Ramnarayan
- Leila Passah
- Uma Chakravarti
- Alaka Basu
- Ritu Menon
- Pyoli Swatija
- Sandhya Phadke
- Renu Khanna
- Govind Kelkar
- ri@gmail.com
- Varsha Sharma
- Fatema C
- Shampa Sengupta
- Rangoli Agarwal
- Sehba
- Pranav Kumar Das
- Hemalatha M
- Aruna
- Amitabha Basu
- Zeenat Niazi
- सहमत SAHMAT
- Radhika Desai
- Renuka Kad
- Rajshri
- Nandini Sundar
- Sandhya gokhale
- Raja Chandra
- Batul Mukhtiar
- Libania
- Lalita Ramdas
- Na Divakara
- Bittu K R
- Swarna Rajagopalan
- Mariam Dhawale
Related: