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Gender and Sexuality Politics

Wrestler Sakshi Malik quits wrestling as close aid of sexual harassment accused Brij Bhushan gets elected as president

Sakshi says “We had fought with complete strength but this fight will continue. The wrestlers of the new generation have to fight”, wrestler Vinesh Phogat says that the culture of violation will continue

Image courtesy: PTI

On December 21, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik announced that she will be quitting her career as a wrestler. Her decision to “retire” from wrestling came after the election results of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) were announced and Sanjay Singh was elected as the president. Singh, the newly elected chief of the country’s wrestling federation, is a close aid of former WFI president and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by six women wrestlers. Brij Bhushan had nominated Singh’s name for the election. Singh had become president after defeating former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran by a margin of 40-7. It is pertinent to note that Sheoran had supported the campaign of women wrestlers to bring attention to the culture of abuse and harassment prevalent in the sports industry.

Malik, along with wrestler Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, addressed the media at the Press Club of India in New Delhi. Referring to the position that Singh holds with Brij Bhushan, Phogat said that “He (Sanjay Singh) is Brij Bhushan’s right-hand man. He is more special to him than his own son.” She further said that with Singh becoming the president of WFI, the culture of harassment and abuse of women wrestlers will continue. As per the report of the Indian Express, Vinesh said “Now that he is president, the coming batch of women wrestlers will also fall prey.”

Following this, Malik announced that as a consequence of a close aid and partner of Brij Bhushan succeeding as the president, she will no longer be competing. “If Brij Bhushan Singh’s business partner and a close aide is elected as the president of WFI, (then) I quit wrestling,” she said. With this, she kept her blue wrestling shoes on the conference table. Throughout her address, Malik’s eyes were full of tears.  She also referred to the sit-in protests that were held by the women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and the support they got from everyone. She said, “We slept for 40 days on the roads and a lot of people from several parts of the country came to support us.” It is pertinent to highlight here that the said sit-in protest had come to an end after Delhi Police had manhandled the women protestors and wrestlers, and had detained them.

The 31-year-old wrestler further said that “We wanted a female president but that did not happen. If the president would be a woman, harassment would not happen. But, there was no participation of women earlier and today you can see the list, not even a single woman was given a position. We had fought with complete strength but this fight will continue. The wrestlers of the new generation have to fight.” 

Punia then addressed the media and underlined the disappointment that the wrestlers were feeling with the government not standing by their word and letting a loyalist of Brij Bhushan be elected. “It’s unfortunate that government did not stand by its word that no Brij Bhushan loyalist will contest WFI election,” Punia said, as per a report of the Hindu. As per a report of the Times of India, during the duration of the lead-up to the elections, the wrestlers had consistently urged Sports Minister Anurag Thakur to prevent individuals associated with Brij Bhushan from participating in the WFI polls.

It is essential to note that Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat did not say whether they will retire from the sport or not. Post the press conference, Malik was seen crying as she left the venue as journalists could be seen chasing behind her.

The other reality of India- sexual harassment accused garlanded

As the news of the election results came forth, along came the video of crackers being burst outside the house of former president and sexual harassment accused Brij Bhushan. The sexual harassment accusation against Brij Bhushan has alleged that since 2014, he had continuously and consistently abused both senior and junior wrestlers. The video, which had been uploaded by the Press Trust of India, then showed Brij Bhushan wearing multiple garlands around his neck, being surrounded by men chanting his name and posing for the camera. Next to Brij Bhushan, the newly elected WFI president, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Singh could be seen standing with a huge smile plastered on his face. Both Brij Bhushan and Singh could be seen flashing a victory sign at the cameras.

As per a report of Aljazeera, when Brij Bhushan was asked about the decision of quitting taken by Malik after the results of the election came out, he replied “I have nothing to do with it.”

The Aljazeera report provided that in recent months, Singh had actively campaigned for Sanjay Singh to replace him and predicted his victory to the local press. As per a report of Newsclick, while campaigning for Singh, Brij Bhushan had told PTI that “11 months later, today is the election. In the election, Sanjay Singh, in a way, can be described as a representative of the old federation. Sanjay Singh is sure to win the election, ensuring the formation of a new federation for the children. I urge them to create a conducive sports environment as soon as possible and compensate for any losses.”

As alleged by the TOI report, given the tremendous interest the outgoing chief has in the sport, it can be expected that Sanjay will be consulting him in policy decisions.

Reacting to his victory, Singh told members of the media that his securing 40 out of 47 votes by the federation’s member institutions proved that “It’s a very big victory of truth over lies.” As per the Aljazeera report, he told reporters that he was committed to supporting wrestlers, but did not comment on Malik’s announcement. His statement provides the allyship that Singh has with Brij Bhushan.

Support pours in for Sakshi Malik on social media- questioning the government’s inaction

At same press conference that Sakshi Malik had announced her decision to quit wrestling, Sangeeta Phogat, another female wrestling champion who had also participated in the protest, said that “The wrestlers didn’t get justice.”

“It’s unfortunate that such people are getting elected to such positions in the country. Now, girls will be harassed again. It’s sad that even after fighting against it, we couldn’t bring any changes. I don’t know how to get justice in our own country,” Sangeeta Phogat added as per Newsclick.

Olympic boxing medallist Vijender Singh extended his support to Malik and described the election of loyalist Singh a “serious issue”. Vijendra Singh had also joined the protesting wrestlers in their sit-in protest. In his interview to India Today, Vijendra Singh had stated “As a player, it feels very bad because, after a lot of hard work, an athlete reaches that level. She is an Olympic medallist, a Commonwealth Games medalist and an Asian Games medallist. All these wrestlers, including Sakshi, Vinesh and Bajrang, have won medals at the highest level for the country.”

He further added that “When Sakshi said she would quit wrestling because of the way the election took place, I think it’s a serious issue. This raises a lot of questions about the democratic processes involved.”

His video can be viewed here:

Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress General Secretary and member of Congress Working Committee (CWC) also gave an interview and called Sakshi Malik’s “retirement” as a black mark in wrestling history. As per PTI, Surjewala said  “Every tear shed by Sakshi Malik, every tear shed by our Olympian daughters of India, every tear shed by every victim of the so called sexual exploitation and complete subjugation of the Indian Wrestling Association is a black blot on the future of India’s sports, particularly wrestling.”

His video can be viewed here:

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, who had supported the women wrestlers in their protest against Brij Bhushan, reacted to Malik’s resignation and stated that “She should not have given up, as resigning in disappointment is not the solution. It takes a lot of time to become a successful wrestler, and she should have maintained her wrestling career.”

His video can be viewed here:

Many people also took to social media and released statements of solidarity with Malik, calling it a shameful day for the country.

Who is Sakshi Malik? What was the wrestlers protest?

Sakshi Malik is one of the top wrestlers of India. She has won multiple medals for India- a Gold medal in 2022 Commonwealth Games, Bronze medal in 2018 Commonwealth Games, Bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics, Silver medal in 2014 Commonwealth Games, 4 medals from 2015-2019 in Asian Championships, Gold and Bronze medals in Commonwealth Championship and several other Junior Level International Medals.

On January 18, 2023, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, two of India’s most esteemed women wrestlers, came forth with accusations of sexual harassment against BJP MP Brij Bhushan. The accusations of sexual harassment were levied by seven women wrestlers, including a minor against Brij Bhushan and several other coaches. During January 2023, the wrestlers had taken to the streets of Delhi for the first time to demand the arrest of Singh and his removal as the chief. By the end of January, a five-member oversight committee was formed which was headed by athlete Mary Kom. The said committee was given four weeks to complete the investigation into the allegations.

When no steps were taken for four months and the report submitted by the oversight committee was not made public, the wrestlers resumed their sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in the month of April. They also moved the Supreme Court to get a FIR against Brij Bhushan registered. It was only after the Supreme Court deemed the allegations raised by wrestlers to be of “serious nature” did the Delhi Police file the FIR against Brij Bhushan.

Since the beginning of the protest, the protesting wrestlers faced multiple threats, violence and abuse at the hands of the Delhi police and the government. Nonetheless, the sit in protest had continued for almost 50 days. Their protest was also supported by farmers. On May 28, the protesting wrestlers and their supporters were detained by the Delhi police as they were attempting to march towards the newly inaugurated Parliament building. At the inauguration, which was conducted by PM Narendra Modi, a video of Brij Bhushan being present was also released on social media. The detained protestors were released from police custody the next day. After their release, the protesting women wrestlers had threatened to immerse their medals, but were stopped by farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.

In the month of June, the minor complainant in the sexual harassment case withdrew her complaint and changed her statement. The father of the minor wrestler complainant came out in the open about the threats that he had been facing and the amount of pressure that the family had been under. The father also provided that he was being threatened by people whose names he couldn’t reveal and “his family is living in intense fear”, owing to which he took the complaint back. In the middle of June, the protesting wrestlers had halted their protest after the sports minister had assured them of a police investigation against Bhushan.

A complete timeline of the protest can be viewed here.

Status of the case against Brij Bhushan

Even though a FIR had been filed by the Delhi Police against Brij Bhushan on the order of the Supreme Court, Brij Bhushan is yet to see inside the of a jail. On June 15, Delhi Police had charge sheeted the BJP MP under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He had been given bail by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal on July 20.

In the hearing of September 23, 2023, during the hearing arguments for framing of charges, the Delhi Police submitted to the Rouse Avenue Delhi court that Brij Bhushan “outraged the modesty” of the women wrestlers who filed harassment charges against him at every opportunity he got. As per a report of India Post, Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava, representing the Delhi Police, had also told the court that the former WFI chief “knew what he was doing” and his intention was to outrage the modesty of the wrestlers, which he also tried to cover up. The APP also argued that the actions of the accused were facilitated by the co-accused.

Additionally, the APP also pointed out that there are three types of evidence against Brij Bhushan which are enough to frame charges, which were- a written complaint and two recorded statements under Sections 161 (examination of witnesses by the police) and 164 (statements recorded by a Magistrate) under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

 

Related:

Clear case of re-victimisation: Former SC judge Madan B Lokur on Delhi Police’s handling of women wrestlers case

Protesting wrestlers will resume stir, say govt not ready to arrest WFI chief by June 15

Mumbai: Silent protest organised to condemn the injustice meted out to women wrestlers

FIRs suggest wrestlers had informed PM about their repeated sexual trauma in 2021

 

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