WFI sexual harassment case: IOA taking charge of WFI 'first step in our fight for justice', say wrestlers

New Delhi: The protesting wrestlers on Sunday termed the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) decision to take charge of all the activities of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) as the “first step” in their fight against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former WFI chief. The country’s top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar for the last 22 days demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan for alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The IOA, through its letter on 12 May , asked the secretary general of WFI to hand over the official documents including financial instruments to its ad-hoc panel, making it clear the outgoing office bearers shall have no role in the running of the federation. The WFI said it has no issues in obeying the IOA order since they were already co-operating with the authorities. “This (the dissolution of the current WFI) is the first step in our fight for justice. Our fight has begun in right earnest, it’s a victory for us… and we will continue or fight until we get justice,” said Bajrang, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist. Read | Protesting wrestlers gives 21 May as deadline for arresting WFI chief Brij Bhushan Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh rued that not a single ruling party’s woman parliamentarian had met the wrestlers “to extend support in our fight for the dignity of women”. She said that from Monday onwards the wrestlers will give letters by hand or via e-mail to all women parliamentarians of the ruling party to come and support them. “When they talk about the safety of women in the country, then we too are their daughters and they should come out and support us,” she said. “We are writing an open letter to them (ruling party’s women parliamentarians) and our fellow wrestlers will deliver those letters by hand. We will also send letters via e-mail. We feel that our voice, our grievances, have not yet reached them… we feel that after they receive the letters they will come and support us,” added Vinesh. Read | Delhi Police collects evidence against WFI president Brij Bhushan from 4 states Vinesh also requested the people gathered at Jantar Mantar to visit their respective district headquarters on 16 May and give a memorandum in support of the wrestlers. “We request the people supporting us to also launch a satyagraha andolan (nonviolent resistance) for just one day for the dignity of women,” added Vinesh. Meanwhile, the IOA’s three-member ad-hoc committee has made it clear that the process to elect new WFI office bearers will be completed within the 45-day time frame and that the charge will be handed back to the elected body. “Once the elections will be held, the administrative powers will go back to the WFI. The newly-elected officials will run the show. It’s just a temporary move that ad-hoc is managing the affairs of the federation,” an official told PTI. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.