Official Members of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Monday night met wrestlers demonstrating against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar, where the grapplers were demanding that a police complaint should be filed against Singh.
The 30-minute interaction was held between SAI Deputy Director General Shiv Sharma and Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Vinesh Phogat along with other representatives. However, Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshee Malikkh were not present during the meeting.
During the gathering, Phogat interrupted Sharma and said that an “FIR should be registered against Singh, that is our first concern."
Meanwhile, Punia met Sharma when he was leaving and urged him to support the wrestlers in “the fight”.
While talking to the media after the meeting, Sharma said, “I came here to talk to them. I will convey the message further to the government. I hope everything is sorted out soon. I will come back again on Tuesday.”
Tuesday marks the third day of the second leg of the wrestlers’ protest against the federation chief.
Meanwhile, the grapplers have filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India on Monday seeking to press official criminal charges based on their sexual harassment complaints against the head of the WFI.
The wrestlers have mentioned their plea through senior advocate Narendra Hooda before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. Y. Chandrachud for an urgent hearing.
Since the petition was not cleared by the registry for mentioning, the CJI asked Hooda to mention it before him on Tuesday after complying with the standard procedure.
India's top court on Tuesday listed the matter for hearing on Friday.
When speaking to the media, Hooda said: “We want an FIR to be lodged and a fair probe conducted so that the matter reaches its logical legal conclusion. Clearly, the Delhi Police [are] under political pressure; if this was a regular case, the accused would have been arrested by now. The complainants include a minor, so a case under POCSO must also be registered.”
In their petition, the grapplers have said that they do not expect justice from the government or the police, because Singh is a ruling party parliamentarian. The petition has made the Commissioner of Police and the SHO of Connaught Place police station as respondents while pursuing the registration of an FIR based on the complaints stretching from 2012 until last year.
This is the second time that the grapplers are staging protest against Singh. Previously, they had held a three-day demonstration in January 2023.