JOIN USAction against women wrestlers appalling
It is ironical that when the new parliament building was being inaugurated with the installation of the Sengol, said to be a symbol of justice, the country’s top women wrestlers, demanding action against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were facing police action and being evicted from the protest site. Jantar Mantar, the protest site, is just 2 km from the seat of justice and power. The wrestlers had announced their plan to march to the new parliament building to hold a Mahila Mahapanchayat, as their 35-day protest and dharna seeking the arrest of Brij Bhushan Singh and investigation into the sexual harassment charges against him had made no impact on the government. The wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Phogat and Bajrang Punia, were dragged on the street and taken into custody, and are now facing charges of rioting. About 700 persons, including the protesters, have been detained.
The charges against Brij Bhushan Singh, who is also a BJP MP, are serious and include those under the POCSO Act. Any person facing such charges would be in jail now but Brij Bhushan Singh has not faced even serious questioning by the police. His political influence seems to have given him a protective shield against police action. From the beginning of the protest, the wrestlers have faced callousness and even hostility. A report by a probe committee led by boxer M C Mary Kom has not been made public. The wrestlers have been belittled and berated by persons in office and authority. While the police were slow and half-hearted in their investigation, they have now resorted to physical action and declared that the wrestlers would not be allowed to stage their protest again at Jantar Mantar.
Brij Bhushan Singh has maligned the women wrestlers in public and raised unconvincing charges against them. Neither the BJP nor the government has reached out to them or distanced themselves from him. He was attending the inauguration of the new parliament building when the protesters were being forcibly dragged away. These wrestlers have brought honour to the country and if they are treated so shabbily and insensitively and even humiliated, how can an ordinary citizen hope to get justice? They have a just cause and what they have demanded is only the working of the normal course of law. Slogans about ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao’ (Save the girl child, educate the girl child) and women’s empowerment sound hollow when the state is seen to be on the side of the accused in sexual harassment cases and acts against those who seek justice.