Vinesh Phogat alleges Brij Bhushan Singh still runs the show at WFI, considers moving to court
As per some reports, Vinesh Phogat and some other top wrestlers have decided to go to the courts as the Oversight Committee, formed to look into the sexual harassment allegations against sidelined WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh, has still not come up with a definite finding.
The issue had cropped up at the end of January this year, when most of the top wrestlers in the country had staged a protest against Singh, at Jantar Mantar. After all this came up, the sports ministry set up an Oversight Committee to probe the allegations, and a deadline of a month was also set. Meanwhile, Singh has denied the allegations throughout, but nothing has come up from the committee.
“Why is there secrecy over the findings of the Oversight Committee and the details about how they went about the probe? Women wrestlers have shown the courage to speak about what they faced but it seems like their words don’t matter. We have raised a very sensitive issue which concerns the safety of women wrestlers,” Phogat told The Indian Express.
“We have lost faith in the committee. We received some assurances from the government but they were not fulfilled too. We do not know the status of the report filed by the committee as well. Every time we ask what is the status and finding of the Oversight Committee report, there is no response from anyone,” she added.
Vinesh added that Mary Kom, despite being approached several times, hasn't responded. “We are left with no other option but to approach the court in our fight for justice. Stepping back is not an option now."
Further, she alleged, that despite Singh being removed from the post, he still runs the show at the WFI. The Open National Senior Ranking Wrestling Tournament for Women and Greco Roman are being given to Gonda, the place where Singh won his seat.
“Nandini Nagar in Gonda was chosen despite us saying what all had happened to women wrestlers earlier. How can this even happen? When I saw that the venue of the senior ranking tournament was in Gonda, I did try to reach members of the Oversight Committee. But nobody seems to have any answer,” she added.