Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Leading wrestlers have called off their protest late on Friday night after getting assurances from the government that their grievances would be addressed, the first step of which was the stepping aside of under-fire Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Ravi Dahiya, decided to end their protest after a breakthrough was achieved during a marathon second round of talks with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.
The government decided to form an oversight committee which will investigate the allegations of sexual harassment of women wresters by the WFI president. The committee, members of which will be named on Saturday, will also oversee the day-to-day affairs of the federation.
“Till the investigation is over, he (Singh) will step aside and co-operate with the investigation and the oversight committee will run the day-to-day affairs of WFI,” Thakur added.
Talking to media, Bajrang Punia said they never wanted to take the protest route but they were “pushed to limit”.
The Committee will prepare a report within 8-10 days after listening to both sides. We’ll send the report to both Sports Ministry & Home Ministry as well as to the Prime Minister, Yogeshwar Dutt, part of the 7-member IOA committee to probe wrestlers’ sexual harassment allegations told ANI
