India wrestlers' protest: Minor victim’s family ‘living in intense fear’

OLYMPIC medallist Sakshi Malik last Saturday (18) said the wrestler, a minor who had accused outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brij Bhushan Singh of sexual harassment had changed her statement because “her family was threatened”.

Delhi police charged the country’s wrestling federation president with sexual harassment and stalking, following months of protests by the sport’s top figures demanding his arrest. However, police filed a closure report for the charge against the minor wrestler after she withdrew her complaint.

The minor’s father was quoted by the Hindu saying that he had been threatened by people whose names he could not reveal and his family was “living in intense fear” even after withdrawing the complaint against Singh. Police filed a 1,500-page chargesheet against Singh for alleged sexual harassment, assault and stalking of six women wrestlers. It will be heard on Thursday (22).

Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian, who is also a wrestler, tweeted a video message last Saturday accompanied by the hashtag The Truth and talked about the initial delay in filing the complaints against Singh, the report said. “The reason we were silent for so many days was because we lacked unity initially.

“Another reason you can understand that the minor wrestler gave her statement (before the magistrate) and after several days, she changed her statement because her family was threatened,” Malik said.

“How could we have raised our voices individually? Those who come to wrestling are from very poor backgrounds. They don’t have enough courage to raise their voice against such a powerful man.

“People would have realised by now what India’s top wrestlers had to go through even after raising their voices,” Malik said in the video.

Singh has been accused by Olympic medallists and other Indian wrestling champions of groping women athletes and demanding sexual favours.

Some of India’s top athletes supported a weeks-long sit-in in the capital New Delhi, where they called for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president to be arrested.

Delhi Police said in a statement that “after completion of investigation” they charged Singh with sexual harassment and stalking under the Indian Penal Code.

Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava confirmed that the charges had been filed. Vinod Tomar, a Singh acolyte who served as the WFI assistant secretary, faced the same charges, as well as criminal intimidation and abetment.

Singh, 66, is serving his sixth term as a lawmaker from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and has headed the wrestling body for more than a decade. He has been accused of inappropriately groping and propositioning seven wrestlers on several occasions. He has denied the allegations, claiming to be the victim of a “conspiracy” to force him out of parliament. The most serious charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years.

Singh was bunkered down at home in a leafy New Delhi neighbourhood last week with a large police contingent placing barricades around his compound and restricting traffic into the area.

Demonstrations by India’s top wrestlers, including two-time world champion medallist Vinesh Phogat and Olympic bronze medallist Malik, attracted a groundswell of public sympathy. They grew in size from a few dozen to crowds sometimes of thousands of people.

The country’s Olympic gold medallists, including javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra, lent support to their fellow athletes.

In May, the protesters attempted to march to India’s new parliament as it was being inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi, but were detained by police.

Malik and Phogat had threatened to throw their international medals into the Ganges unless police took action.

Authorities opened an investigation into the accusations against Singh after being asked by the Supreme Court to account for the slow progress.

The wrestlers decided to pause the sit-in after the government promised to investigate the sexual harassment claims.

It also promised to stage new elections for the WFI and prohibit Singh or members of his family from contesting.