From the wrestlers’ protest against Brijbhushan Sharan Singh to the suspension of WFI, know the whole matter in points.

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Sports Ministry on Sunday Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Suspended. This incident happened two days after Sanjay Singh was elected president. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh International female wrestler Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling as soon as her close aide Sanjay Singh was elected president. A day later, Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri award and wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister. After the court order, the federation elections were held and Sanjay Singh’s panel won 13 out of 15 seats. Immediately after winning the elections, he announced to organize Junior National Wrestling Competition. Calling it against the rules, the Sports Ministry suspended the entire federation. Earlier this year, wrestlers had protested for months against former federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment. See the complete event date wise here…

Protest by wrestlers started in January

18 January: Wrestlers started protest at Jantar Mantar. Accused WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and intimidation and demanded his resignation and dissolution of the federation.

19 January: Commonwealth Games champion wrestler and BJP member Babita Phogat met the wrestlers and said that she will talk to the government.

20th January: The wrestlers wrote a complaint letter to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President PT Usha and demanded the formation of an inquiry committee to investigate the allegations and the appointment of a new committee to run the WFI in consultation with the wrestlers.

(The IOA formed a seven-member committee to probe the sexual harassment allegations, which also included MC Mary Kom and Yogeshwar Dutt.)

Wrestlers talked to Anurag Thakur

21st January: The wrestlers ended their protest after meeting Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. The Sports Minister said that a monitoring committee will be formed to investigate the allegations and Brij Bhushan will step down from the post till the investigation is completed. WFI denied allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers by its president and coach.

21st January: The Sports Ministry asked the WFI to suspend all activities with immediate effect and schedule an emergency general body meeting of the WFI.

(WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar suspended.)

23 January: Formation of a five-member monitoring committee under the leadership of Mary Kom to investigate the allegations.

(The monitoring committee was given four weeks to complete the investigation.)

24 January: The protesting wrestlers expressed disappointment that the government did not consult them for committee members.

23 February: The tenure of the monitoring committee was extended by two weeks.

Announcement of holding elections in May

16 April: After the monitoring committee’s report was submitted to the Sports Ministry, WFI announced the elections on May 7. However the report was not made public.

23 April: The wrestlers returned to Jantar Mantar and said that seven female wrestlers, including a minor, have filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan at the Connaught Place police station. Claimed that the police have not yet registered the FIR.

(The wrestlers asked the Sports Ministry to make public the findings of the monitoring committee.)

24 April: The Sports Ministry stopped the elections of May 7. Asked the IOA to conduct elections within 45 days of its formation and set up an ad-hoc committee to manage the sports body.

25 April: The wrestlers approached the Supreme Court demanding registration of an FIR against Brij Bhushan.

(Supreme Court issues notice to Delhi Police.)

27 April: Formation of three-member panel by IOA.

(PT Usha said the protesting wrestlers should have shown some discipline and approached the IOA instead of taking to the streets.)

Clash between wrestlers and Delhi Police

03 May : There was a clash between the wrestlers and Delhi Police in which some protesters suffered head injuries.

(The protesters accused drunken officials of assaulting them and misbehaving with the female wrestlers. The brawl led to some wrestlers being detained and some injured.)

04 May : After the FIR was registered and adequate security was provided to the seven complainants, the Supreme Court closed the proceedings on the petition of those three women wrestlers.

05 May : Delhi Police recorded the statements of the wrestlers who had filed sexual harassment complaints against Brij Bhushan.

10 May: The wrestlers challenged Brij Bhushan to undergo a narco test.

11 May: Police recorded the statement of Brijbhushan.

28 May: Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and other protesting wrestlers including Bajrang Punia were booked for rioting and obstruction. They were trying to move towards the new Parliament, which was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

30 May: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling (UWW) condemned the police behavior and detention of the Indian wrestlers.

(Wrestlers reached Haridwar on the pretext of medals.)

Events of June 2023

07 June: The protest stopped after Thakur assured that the police investigation against Brij Bhushan would be completed and the pending WFI elections would be conducted by June 30.

08 June: The minor wrestler’s father told PTI that they deliberately filed a false police complaint of sexual harassment against the WFI chief because they wanted to take revenge from him.

June 12: IOA appointed former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Mahesh Mittal Kumar as returning officer.

13 June: WFI elections were fixed for July 6.

15 June: Delhi Police filed chargesheet in the court.

19 June: The IOA ad-hoc panel summoned five unrecognized state wrestling units for a hearing on June 21.

June 21: The IOA ad-hoc panel scheduled the WFI elections for July 11 as five unrecognized state wrestling bodies presented their cases at the hearing, seeking the right to vote in the elections.

22 June: The IOA ad-hoc panel limited Asian Games and World Championships selection to one-match competition for six protesting wrestlers.

23 June: Many coaches and parents of wrestlers demanded withdrawal of the exemption given to six wrestlers.

25 June: Gauhati High Court stayed the WFI elections to be held on July 11 on a petition filed by Assam Wrestling Association.

This happened in July 2023

18th July: Delhi court granted interim bail to Brij Bhushan Singh.

(Bajrang and Vinesh got direct entry into the Asian Games.)

19th July: Young wrestlers demonstrated on the streets of Hisar in protest against the unfair exemption given to Bajrang and Vinesh in the trials.

(WFI elections were scheduled for August 7.)

20th July: Several junior wrestlers, their parents and coaches reached the IOA headquarters demanding withdrawal of the exemption given to Vinesh and Bajrang.

(WFI elections rescheduled to August 12.)

Story from August to December

11 August: The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the WFI elections to be held on August 12 following a petition filed by the Haryana Wrestling Association.

23 August: Wrestling’s world governing body UWW suspended WFI for not conducting elections on time.

05 December: WFI elections were scheduled for 21 December.

21st December: Brij Bhushan’s confidant Sanjay Singh was elected as the new chief of WFI and his panel easily won most of the posts.

21st December: Bajrang and Sakshi held a press conference. In this, Sakshi retired from wrestling in protest against the selection of Sanjay Singh.

22 December: Bajrang returned the Padmashree award in protest against the election of Sanjay Singh.

24th December: The Sports Ministry suspended the WFI till further orders as the newly elected body did not follow due process.

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