Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s loyalist Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of the WFI on Thursday. The elections were held after several postponements amid months of massive protests by top Indian wrestlers, who accused Brij Bhushan of sexual harassment.
From the wrestlers’ protest to the WFI elections, here is a timeline of what happened
January 18: Indian wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik began their protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar after they accused WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh Sharan of sexual exploitation and intimidation and demanded his resignation. On the same day, Brij Bhushan refuted all charges.
January 19: Commonwealth Games champion wrestler and BJP member Babita Phogat joined the wrestlers in their protest. Later that night, a group of top wrestlers met union sports minister Anurag Thakur at his residence, however, it ended without any resolution.
January 20: The wrestlers wrote a complaint letter to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha, demanding the resignation of Brij Bhushan and the formation of an inquiry committee on the allegations of sexual harassment. Following the complaint, the IOA formed a seven-member committee on the same day which included – M C Mary Kom, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, archer Dola Banerjee, Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) president Sahdev Yadav, Alaknanda Ashok, and two advocates.
January 21: Wrestlers called off the protest after meeting the sports minister who said that an oversight committee would be formed to probe the allegations and that Brij Bhushan will step down from his position till the investigation is completed.
January 21: The sports ministry asked WFI to suspend all its activities and schedule an emergency meeting.
January 23: A five-member oversight committee was formed which was headed by Mary Kom. The committee was given four weeks to complete the investigation.
February 23: The oversight committee’s tenure was extended by two weeks.
April 12: Wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat pulled out of their training camp in protest of the sports ministry’s delay in announcing the findings of the oversight committee’s report.
April 16: The WFI announced its election date as May 7 after the oversight committee submitted its report to the sports ministry. However, the report was not made public.
April 23: Wrestlers returned to Jantar Mantar to restart their protest against the WFI chief.
April 24: The wrestlers moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to register an FIR against Singh. On the same day, the sports ministry stalled the May 7 WFI elections and asked IOA to constitute an ad-hoc committee to conduct the polls within 45 days of its formation.
April 25: The Supreme Court called the sexual harassment allegations against Singh “serious” and issued a notice to the Delhi Police in the matter.
April 27: The IOA formed a three-member ad-hoc committee.
April 28: Delhi police registered two FIRs against Singh in connection with sexual harassment allegations made by women wrestlers.
May 3: PT Usha met the protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar days after she said that they should have “shown some discipline instead of taking the issue to the streets”. On the same day, a scuffle broke out between the wrestlers and the Delhi police leading to some injuries among the protestors. The wrestlers accused officials of being under the influence of alcohol and misbehaving with them.
May 5: Delhi police recorded statements of wrestlers who had filed complaints of sexual harassment against Singh.
May 7: Farmers decided to join the protest in favour of the wrestlers. Delhi police tightened security and did not allow any tractor to enter the national capital from any border.
May 10: Wrestlers challenged Singh to take a NARCO test.
May 11: The Delhi police recorded Singh’s statement in the case.
May 28: Top wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sangeeta Phogat along with other protesters were detained by the Delhi police as they attempted to march towards the new Parliament building which was being inaugurated by PM Modi on the same day. All wrestlers were released later in the day but FIRs were lodged against them under several sections of the IPC.
May 30: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United World Wrestling (UWW) condemned the police’s detention of the wrestlers.
June 7: Wrestlers halted their protest after the sports minister assured them of a police investigation against Bhushan.
June 13: WFI elections were scheduled for July 6.
June 21: The IOA’s ad-hoc committee rescheduled the WFI elections to July 11 after disaffiliated state wrestling units presented their cases in a hearing.
June 25: The Gauhati High Court stayed the WFI elections scheduled for July 11.
July 18: Delhi Court granted interim bail to Brij Bhushan Singh.
July 20: The WFI election was rescheduled for August 12.
August 11: The Punjab and Haryana high courts stayed WFI elections scheduled for August 12 after a petition was filed by the Haryana Wrestling Association.
August 23: The UWW suspended WFI for not conducting elections on time.
December 5: WFI scheduled the election for December 21.
December 21: Brij Bhushan’s loyalist and aide Sanjay Singh elected as new WFI chief.
