Oversight Committee gets two more weeks to complete probe into sexual harassment allegations against WFI chief

By Team Newsable | First Published Feb 23, 2023, 5:11 PM IST

The WFI saw allegations of sexual harassment against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by the female wrestlers. Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee will have two more weeks to complete the probe into the allegations.

The Sports Ministry has extended the deadline to the Oversight Committee by a couple of weeks to present its report on the sexual harassment allegations against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The Committee, directed by legendary boxer MC Mary Kom, was instituted on January 23 to examine the assertions made by the country's top wrestlers that Brij Bhushan had sexually victimised several women wrestlers and intimidated the athletes.

The wrestlers had previously given out the names of the 'victims'. The committee, which is presently running the day-to-day functioning of the sports body, was requested to submit its statement in four weeks. The ministry expanded the deadline after recommendations from the committee members, and now, the report will be presented by March 9.

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"The Sports Ministry has given a two-week extension to the Oversight Committee for the submission of its report, following a request," a ministry source briefed PTI. The ministry was compelled to create the delegation after top Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya and Sakshi Malik, orchestrated a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, urging that Brij Bhushan be removed from his role and disband the WFI.

The BJP MP was asked to step down temporarily till the probe into his supposed wrongdoing was finished. The Mary Kom-led council possesses former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, SAI member Radhica Sreeman and Rajesh Rajagopalan, ex-CEO, Target Olympic Podium Scheme and Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist Babita Phogat as its associates.

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Since the committee's formation, the top Indian wrestlers have not contested at international events, missing the UWW Ranking Series tournaments in Zagreb and Alexandria. United World Wrestling (UWW), the sport's global governing body, has seemingly taken away the hosting rights of the Asian Championship from India following a complaint from the top grapplers.

(With inputs from PTI)

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