Women wrestlers from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Delhi Police Commissioner to lodge an FIR immediately against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan on alleged charges of sexual harassment.
Total seven wrestlers, including gold medalist Vinesh Bhogat, have filed the application in the Apex Court.
Their lawyer will tomorrow urge Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud to hear the matter on an urgent basis.
The petition alleged that repeated requests to the Delhi Police regarding registration of FIR against Brij Bhushan Singh fell of deaf ears, after which the athletes were forced to stage a protest in New Delhi.
Several wrestlers, including gold medalist Vinesh Phogat and Olympians Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, have been sitting on a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi since yesterday, alleging that despite filing a complaint with the Connaught Place police station on Friday, nothing has been done.
They alleged in the complaint that seven female wrestlers, including a minor, were ‘molested, tortured and exploited’ by Singh, when he was the President of the Federation.
The agitating wrestlers said they would mobilise nationwide support by appealing to the khap panchayats and several other organisations to back their cause.
Regarding the Sports ministry stalling the WFI elections on May 7 and directing the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to form an ad-hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the federation, the wrestlers said they had nothing to do with the polls and would continue to press for a proper investigation into the allegations against Singh.