Sakshi Malik at wrestler’s protest: We want Supreme Court to give us justice

Sakshi Malik on Monday said that the wrestlers would continue to protest until the Supreme Court delivered justice as the Indian wrestlers resumed protest against the WFI at Jantar Mantar.

From left to right: Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik along with others addressing a press conference during the protest against WFI at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday. | Photo Credit: RV MOORTHY

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik on Monday said that the wrestlers would continue to protest until the Supreme Court delivered justice as the Indian wrestlers resumed protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at Jantar Mantar.

The Sports Ministry has written a letter to the Indian Olympic Association requesting “a transitory or Ad-Hoc committee of the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) to be formed to hold WFI elections within 45 days of the formation of the committee.”

The letter also mentioned the findings of the Oversight Committee (OC) formed after allegations of sexual harassment, financial mismanagement and arbitrariness in the federation.

OC findings have revealed that there was no proper Internal Complaints Committee of the WFI and that there was no adequate mechanism for grievance redressal, need for transparency, effective communication and consultation between WFI and the sportspersons.

However, Sakshi has decided to not believe the IOA. “Right now, we are not going to fall for these false promises (of IOA). WFI office was open and their people were running it. We don’t want to run the federation. We want FIR against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. We want Supreme Court to give us justice. Till then, we are here. ”

Three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat said, “Babita (Phogat) came to mediate. Now she is with the BJP, we won’t trust anyone. Our seniors will take decisions.”

“When players win medals you stand with them, when they are on the road then you are silent,” replied Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia when asked for his thoughts on why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not spoken out about the protest.

When questioned if the wrestlers would mediate with the government like before, Sakshi opined that they wanted the protest to be apolitical last time but were manipulated and that spoilt the protest. “We won’t make the same mistake. We apologise to those we kept away. We accept every support,” she added.