'We were assured that we will be consulted before formation of oversight committee' - Protesting wrestlers
Indian wrestlers, who had protested against WFI and its president Brij Bhushan Singh, had asked for their consultation before a new committee formation. However, they are sad about the oversight committee formation without the same.
The wrestlers who accused WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation on Tuesday rued that the government did not consult them before forming the oversight committee that will probe charges against the sports administrator. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur announced on Monday that a five-member oversight committee, headed by legendary boxer MC Mary Kom, will investigate the charges against the WFI boss and also manage the day-to-day affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India. Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sarita Mor and Sakshi Malik, who staged a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar for three days demanding the sacking of the WFI president, posted an identical tweet on the micro-blogging site, expressing their dismay.
"We were assured that we would be consulted before the Oversight Committee was formed. Sadly, we were not even consulted before the formation of this committee," the wrestlers tweeted and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Thakur. The oversight committee has former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, ex-badminton player and Mission Olympic Cell member Trupti Murgunde, ex-TOPS CEO Rajagopalan and former SAI executive director - teams - Radhica Sreeman as other members.
The wrestlers had accused Singh, also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP), of acting like a dictator and sexually harassing junior wrestlers. The wrestlers did not reveal the identity of the athletes who faced sexual harassment.
(With inputs from PTI)