The wrestlers have been camping on the streets of New Delhi since April 22 to demand an investigation into the president of the Wrestling Federation of India for sexual harassment.
The women wrestlers say Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh sexually harassed seven women wrestlers over more than 10 years.
BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at the Parliament House complex during Budget Session, on February 6, 2023 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Singh, who is also a member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), has denied the allegations.
Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman to win a medal for wrestling at the Olympics, said she and other women wrestlers had tried to file a police complaint against Singh in 2012 but the case “disappeared within 24 hours”.
Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik is detained by the police while attempting to march to India’s new parliament, just as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. (Photo by ARUN THAKUR/AFP via Getty Images)
In January, the group of women went public and began a protest in the capital.
However, they stopped protesting after the government stripped Singh of administrative powers and promised an investigation.
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat (C) with others are detained by the police while attempting to march to India’s new parliament, just as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. (Photo by ARUN THAKUR/AFP via Getty Images)
However, the women said there were no further updates to the investigation since.
In late April, the women decided to relaunch their protest, forgoing their rigorous training regimes with just a few months to go until the World Championships and the Asian Games.
Indian wrestlers Sangeeta Phogat and Vinesh Phogat struggle as they are detained by the police while attempting to march to India’s new parliament, just as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi on May 28, 2023. (Photo by ARUN THAKUR/AFP via Getty Images)
On Sunday May 28, the group tried to march to the new parliament building in Delhi, which was being inaugurated that day.
Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat during a protest march towards Delhi’s new Parliament building on May 28, 2023 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
But the wrestlers – including Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, a male wrestler, and Asian Games champion Vinesh Phogat – were met with violence from police.
Photos went viral showing the police forcibly dragging the wrestlers and taking them away on buses.
Security personnel detain wrestler Sangeeta Phogat during a protest march towards new Parliament building, on May 28, 2023 in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Although they were later released, Malik, Phogat and Punia said on Tuesday May 30 they will throw their medals in India’s holiest river – the Ganges – and go on an indefinite hunger strike.
Indian wrestlers along with their supporters gather to immerse their medals in the river Ganges as a mark of protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in Haridwar on May 30, 2023. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
They have now given the government five days to respond.
