- Friday, April 26, 2024
In a statement, the United World Wrestling has condemned the treatment and detention of the wrestlers and expressed its disappointment over the lack of results of the probe so far.
By: Shubham Ghosh
While protests held by some of India’s top wrestlers against the president of the country’s wrestling federation over alleged sexual harassment of female athletes, including a minor, turned intense, the United World Wrestling (UWW) has issued a statement condemning the detention of the wrestlers during a march on Sunday (28).
The international body, which expressed ‘disappointment over the lack of results of the investigations’ against the federation chief, even threatened to suspend the Indian wrestling body if its elections are not held within 45 days. The chief of the Indian federation, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied the charges, is also a parliamentarian of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by prime minister Narendra Modi.
“UWW firmly condemns the treatment and detention of the wrestlers. It expresses its disappointment over the lack of results of the investigations so far. UWW urges the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the allegations,” the world wrestling body said in a statement.
India’s protesting wrestlers hold plan to throw medals in Ganges, give government 5-day ultimatum
“UWW will request further information about the next elective general assembly from the 10A and the Ad-hoc Committee of the WFI. The 45-day deadline that was initially set to hold this elective assembly shall be respected. Failing to do so may lead UWW to suspend the federation, thereby forcing the athletes to compete under a neutral flag. It is reminded that UWW already took a measure in this situation by reallocating the Asian Championship planned in New Delhi earlier this year,” it added.
“For several months, United World Wrestling has followed with great concern the situation in India where wrestlers are protesting over allegations of abuse and harassment by the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). It has taken due note that the WFI President has been put aside at an early stage and is currently not in charge,” UWW stated further.
“As it has already done since the beginning of this situation, UWW will hold a meeting with the wrestlers to inquire about their condition and safety and reconfirm our support for a fair and just resolution of their concerns,” it added.
On Tuesday (30), the protest by the Indian wrestlers, who include the likes of Olympic medal-winners Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia and World Championships medal winner Vinesh Phogat, took a worse turn as they reached the holy city of Haridwar in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand to immerse their medals in the Ganges river as a mark of protest.
They, however, were persuaded by farmer leader Naresh Tikait and local people and instead issued a five-day ultimatum to the Modi government to act on their demand for action against Singh.
On Sunday, the wrestlers were detained by personnel of Delhi Police when they were trying to march towards the new parliament building in the national capital which was being inaugurated by Modi. Singh was present in the parliament then.
They were also accused of rioting but released later.
The wrestlers were upset with the treatment meted out to them and decided to throw their hard-earned medals into the river and sit on a hunger strike till death.
A powerful group of farmers has convened a ‘mahapanchayat’ (major meeting) in Sauram town in the Muzaffarnagar district of the northern state Uttar Pradesh on Thursday (1) to address the ongoing protests by the wrestlers.
Tikait, who leads the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and head of the Balyan Khap, announced that the wrestling protest will be the central issue discussed during the ‘mahapanchayat’ at the historic Sauram Chaupal.
