Wrestlers’ protest: Kapil Sibal raises question of ‘pliant investigation’

PTI, Apr 30, 2023, 10:19 AM IST

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said the wrestlers staging a protest here demanding the arrest of the wrestling federation chief over sexual harassment charges are facing the predicament of a defiant accused and ”no arrests”, and wondered whether there is a ”pliant investigation” into the matter.

Sibal, a senior advocate, is representing the wrestlers in the Supreme Court.

In a tweet, he said: ”Protesting Wrestlers Predicament: A minor, 6 others traumatised, a defiant accused, a silent PMO, no arrests. A pliant investigation?” The Delhi Police filed two FIRs against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Friday on allegations of sexual harassment levelled against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP by seven women wrestlers.

The first information reports (FIRs) were filed hours after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Delhi Police, told an apex court bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha that a case will be registered on Friday.

While the first FIR relates to the allegations of a minor wrestler and was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the second was related to outraging the modesty of women.

Several wrestlers who have brought laurels for the country from international competitions have been protesting at Jantar Mantar, demanding that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated the sexual harassment charges against Singh.

The wrestlers have asserted that they will not leave the protest site until Singh is arrested. They resumed their sit-in last Sunday and demanded that the findings of the panel that probed the allegations be made public.