‘Will Continue Fight From Court, Not Roads’: Wrestlers End Protest Against WFI Chief Brij Bhushan

The protesting wrestlers on Sunday said that they won’t be hitting the streets again, and that their fight against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh  — who has been accused of sexual harassment — will now be fought in courts.

In identical tweets, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia said that the government has fulfilled their promise of filing a chargesheet against the BJP leader.

After this, the wrestlers will “continue till we get justice but it (fight) will be in court and not on road,” the joint statement read.

“Regarding the reform in WFI, the election process, as promised, has begun. We will wait for fulfilment of promises made by the government regarding the July 11 elections,” it further said.

Meanwhile, Vinesh and Sakshi have also announced that were taking a break from social media for a few days.

This comes a day after, in a live address on social media, the three wrestlers attacked former wrestler and now BJP leader Yogeshwar Dutt for questioning the IOA ad-hoc panel’s decision to grant them exemption from Asian Games trials.

In a nearly 40-minute address, the wrestlers said that their fight against Singh will continue and they will deliberate how to continue this fight after evaluating the chargesheet filed against the BJP leader.

“People are asking us why are we silent . The time (to suspend protest) was till June 15. This fight will continue, whether it is on the mat or off the mat, but the fight for justice will continue,” Vinesh had said.

“Till Brij Bhushan is not put behind bars, he doesn’t pay for his sins, it will continue. We are waiting for a copy of chargesheet. We will evaluate if it is strong enough for justice. Whether we will sit on road or put our lives at stake, we will decide. That’s why we are silent. Our fight has not ended,” Phogat added.

Vinesh also alleged that Dutt was targeting them because of his self interest. “I will tell you why you are doing this. Brij Bhushan might have offered you the post of WFI President and that’s why you have sided with him,” she said.

This comes after the wrestlers were removed from Jantar Mantar on May 28. They had suspended their protest till June 15 after getting assurance from Sports Minister Anurag Thakur that a chargesheet will be filed against Singh.

There were also assured that none of his family members will be allowed to contest WFI elections.

The wrestlers, who got massive support from farmer leaders, khap panchayats and several other organisation, sat on Jantar Mantar for 38 days before Delhi Police detained them for violating law and order on May 28.

They first came to Jantar Mantar on January 18 and suspended their three-day sit-in after Thakur promised to probe their allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation against 66-year-old Singh, who is a six-time BJP MP.

With PTI inputs