PT Usha says protesting wrestlers ‘tarnishing India’s image’. Bajrang Punia responds

Wrestler Bajrang Punia on Thursday said the protesters were not expecting such a harsh response from Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha who alleged that the grapplers protesting on the streets over sexual harassment allegations against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh “amounted to indiscipline.”

Decorated wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik are the three central characters in the renewed protests against WFI chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

“Wrestlers staging protest on streets amounts to indiscipline. It is tarnishing the image of India,” Usha, who is also a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, told reporters after IOA’s Executive Committee meeting.

Responding to Usha’s remarks, Punia told PTI, “We did not expect such a harsh response from IOA President PT Usha, we expected support from her.”

The IOA and the government had managed to placate the wrestlers with assurances to probe their allegations against Sharan and the wrestling federation after the protest first broke out in January. The wrestlers renewed their protest demanding that a case be registered against the BJP MP on the basis of their police complaint, followed by his arrest under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as one of the complainants is a minor.

The protesting wrestlers also moved Supreme Court seeking FIR against Sharan over the sexual harassment allegations. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the petition before a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha for an urgent hearing and argued the police were bound to register a case since the matter involved sexual harassment.

The top court called the allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh “serious” while issuing a notice to the Delhi Police in the matter.

The CJI said: “There are serious allegations contained in the petition at [the] behest of wrestlers who have represented India with regard to sexual harassment. Issue notice, returnable on Friday.”

Former wrestler Babita Phogat, who was included in the panel to investigate the allegations, claimed that fellow member Radhica Sreeman did not let her read the report in detail and she had some objections to the report.

(With PTI inputs)