Five-member panel to run India wrestling body amid harassment allegations

New Delhi: A five-member panel led by boxer MC Mary Kom will manage the daily running of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), which has been hit with sexual harassment allegations, India’s sports minister said on Monday.

The country’s top wrestlers staged a sit-in protest in the capital New Delhi last week accusing WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and coaches of sexually harassing several female wrestlers.

Singh has denied any wrongdoing but the sports ministry has stripped the WFI top brass of all administrative powers and tasked an oversight committee with running the federation and looking into the allegations.

“The WFI president will stay away from the federation’s day-to-day administrative duties and the oversight committee will take over,” sports minister Anurag Thakur told reporters.

“Over the next one month, the committee will hear all the parties involved and carry out its own investigation before submitting their report to us.” Apart from Mary Kom, the face of Indian women’s boxing, the five-member committee includes Olympic bronze medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and former badminton player Trupti Murgunde.

The following will be terms of reference for the Oversight Committee:

i. To enquire into the allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and/or intimidation, financial irregularities and administrative lapses, levelled by prominent sportspersons;

ii. To undertake day-to-day administration of the Wrestling Federation of India.

iii. The Oversight Committee will complete the enquiry at the earliest, by four weeks.

Earlier, speaking to reporters in Kolkata on Sunday, Anurag Thakur said that the Centre has heard all the players pertaining to allegations levelled against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and added all the activities of the tournament were stopped immediately pending an inquiry by the probe committee.

Meanwhile, the Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) Annual General Body Meeting (AGM), which was supposed to start at 10 am on Sunday in Ayodhya, was called off amid the ongoing battle between the wrestlers and its governing body in the country.

Following the wrestlers’ protest, this meeting was seen as being of utmost importance.

The development comes after the central government on Saturday evening suspended WFI Assistant Secretary Vinod Tomar. Along with this, the activities of WFI were immediately banned till the completion of the investigation into the allegations of the wrestlers.

After late-night parleys with the protesting star grapplers, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday night announced that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will ‘step aside’ from the day-to-day affairs of the WFI till the ‘oversight committee’ led by Olympian MC Mary Kom completes its inquiry into the allegations against him.

The probe committee has been given a mandate of four weeks to submit its report, the minister added.

The wrestlers, who were protesting at Jantar Mantar, called off their protest after a meeting with Union Sports Minister Thakur on Friday.