New Delhi: As wrestlers protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for attention to serious allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP, Brij Bhushan Singh, complainants have said that the oversight committee appointed by the Union government is biased towards the accused, Economic Times reports.The complainants in this case are seven wrestlers, including a minor athlete. The Delhi Police has filed an FIR against Singh only after the Supreme Court heard the wrestlers’ petition urging for an FIR to be registered.The apex court asked that the identities of the complainants be kept under wraps considering the threat to their safety.The Economic Times, which has claimed to have seen the FIR against Singh, noted in the report that the almost all the complainants, including the minor, believe that video recordings of the testimonies made before the committee may have been tampered with to protect the BJP MP.This oversight committee had been set up in January, after the first round of protests by the wrestlers, against Singh.Headed by boxing legend M.C. Mary Kom, the committee also has Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, Dhyanchand awardee Trupti Murgunde, SAI member Radhica Sreeman and ex-CEO, TOPS, retired Captain Rajesh Rajagopalan.The committee was mandated to enquire into the allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and/or intimidation, financial irregularities and administrative lapses, levelled by the prominent sportspersons and to complete the enquiry in four weeks.The panel submitted its report last month to the Union government. It has since not been made public.The wrestlers who had been part of the protests then and now – Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and others – had said that they were not consulted when the government formed the oversight committee to look into their claims.The ET report now mentions that in their FIR, almost all complainants repeated their lack of confidence in this committee. “They expressed ‘utter shock’ in their complaints that panel members tried to ‘justify the actions of the accused,’ Singh’s alleged acts were projected as nothing but ‘an act of innocence done in good faith’ by committee members and they implied that the complainant may have ‘interpreted’ the same ‘in a wrongful manner,’ one of the FIRs is learnt to read,” the report notes.The report also says that the committee appeared to have already decided to favour Singh or act on his instructions and eventually gave him a clean chit.Note: An earlier version of this article misidentified Trupti Murugunde in a photo.
