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Wrestlers’ Protests: Indian wrestlers are protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexual harassment. Bollywood actress and politician Urmila Matondkar on Friday extended her support to the protesting women wrestlers. Reacting to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha’s criticism of protesting wrestlers, Urmila shared a video where she voiced her opinion and asked the council to support top Indian wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and many others wrestlers.
In solidarity with our wrestlers ✊🏻✊🏻@HMOIndia @ianuragthakur @SakshiMalik @Phogat_Vinesh @BajrangPunia @aajtak @ndtv @ZeeNews @republic @zee24taasnews @abpmajhatv @ANI @News18India pic.twitter.com/Ppvd2OVzGk
— Urmila Matondkar (@UrmilaMatondkar) April 27, 2023
PT Usha, also a Rajya Sabha MP, said the grapplers lacked discipline as they hit the streets to resume their protest against Singh instead of approaching them. “Our feeling is that for sexual harassment complaints, IOA has a committee and athletes’ commission. Instead of going to the street (again), they should have come to us, but they have not at all come to IOA,” Usha told reporters after the executive committee meeting.
When asked if the IOA would reach out to the women wrestlers since they are adamant that they would not leave the protest site until their demands are met, PT Usha said, “Thoda toh discipline hona chahiye (there should be some discipline). Instead of coming to us they have gone straight to the streets. It’s not good for sport.”
In the matter, the IOA is yet to complete its probe into the allegations while the government-formed oversight panel’s findings have not been made public as yet.
Meanwhile, Sangeeta Phogat said that the wrestlers will continue to protest and fight for justice. She said, “We didn’t get justice earlier. We were fighting for justice earlier and we are fighting for justice now. We will continue to do so until the accused is punished. So we will continue to protest here. The girls have blamed him for sexual harassment so an FIR should be registered and he should get punished according to the acts. As you can see nobody came to us we didn’t receive a phone call nobody has told us that we will get justice”.
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