New Delhi: Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on Friday said that he is ready to tender his resignation if wrestlers assure that they will call off protests. Talking to Zee News in an exclusive interview, the WFI president said "I have complete faith in the judiciary. I will work with the Delhi Police on the case that will be filed against me. Whatever the Supreme Court decides, I will follow it." The Delhi Police on Friday told the Supreme Court that they will register an FIR against Singh. Singh targeted the protesting wrestlers for not calling off their protests despite the Delhi police's assurance of an FIR against him.
On being asked about the wrestler's demand for a jail term for Singh, he said, "Why are they (wrestlers) still sitting protesting at Jantar Mantar after the police have decided to file an FIR against me. They clearly don't have any faith in the Judiciary of the country." Singh said that the entire country knows I have always worked towards the upliftment of wrestling and have taken it to new heights.
On the question of whether he will resign or not over allegations of sexual harassment, Singh said "I have already completed my tenure as the WFI president, I am just looking over the things until a new president is appointed. I am ready to leave if the players assured me they will end the protests."
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police, told a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha that the FIR would be registered today. SC was hearing a petition by seven women wrestlers seeking registration of FIR against Singh for allegedly sexually harassing them. The wrestlers, who include Olympics, Commonwealth and World Championships medal winners in Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, have been sitting at Jantar Mantar in the heart of the national capital since last weekend.
Wrestlers Demand WFI President's Imprisonment
On the 6th day of the protest, wrestlers addressed the media after the Delhi Police agreed to register an FIR against the WFI President.
"I`d like to thank all the athletes who have come out in our support. Abhinav Bindra and Neeraj Chopra have supported us because they understand the value of athletes. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh should be imprisoned soon. He`d continue to misuse his position and he needs to be put behind bars. We`ll protest till the time he goes to jail. We also have to see the sections that the Delhi police have imposed on him. People who felt that our protest will be over after the FIR were wrong and we are in our right to decide on it. All of us protesting need security and the complainants need security because you never know who wants to harm us," Bajrang Punia said at the press conference.
Star grappler Phogat appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack the WFI chief from all positions. "We don`t trust Delhi police, they took 6 days to register an FIR. We`ll see what they do. We are adamant about our stand to imprison the WFI President. I appeal to the Prime Minister of India to remove the WFI president from all his responsibilities. This is related to all the sports and I`d urge them to come out in our support and I want to stay in touch with all of them. This is when you safeguard the future of sports and athletes in the country. All the renowned sports people should come out and support us and save Indian sports. If they don`t come out today, they`ll never be able to safeguard India`s sporting culture," Vinesh Phogat said at the press conference.
"We have already given enough evidence and if anything else is required, we`ll present it to Supreme Court not to the Delhi police. This is not a fight to register an FIR. This is a fight against one person who already has 85 cases against him. We need to free wrestling of corrupt people. We`ll respect the decision made by Supreme Court and will act according to their orders," she added."I`d like to thank all the women who`ve come out in our support. We don`t trust the Delhi police at all, they registered the FIR after Supreme Court`s orders. We just demand a fair investigation. We just want Brij Bhushan to be removed from all the positions and he should be punished accordingly and only then we`ll end our protest," Sakshi Malik said.
