Wrestlers who deposed before a sports ministry panel probing charges of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh have raised apprehensions that their statements “may not have been recorded” or may “have been tampered with to favour the accused”, according to the two first information reports filed against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker.
One wrestler who appeared before the sports ministry oversight committee alleged in her complaint, “During my deposition, I observed that the device on which the recording was being done was being switched on and off again and again.”
“I am apprehensive that my entire statement/deposition may not have been recorded or may have been tampered with in a view to favour the accused and to give a clean chit to the accused for the offenses,” said the complainant.
The two FIRs were filed at a police station in Delhi on April 28, weeks after protests by India’s top wrestlers against Singh and hours after the Supreme Court heard a case in the matter earlier that day. One of the FIRs, filed by a 17-year-old girl’s father, was registered under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Another wrestler alleged that the committee stopped the video recording even as proceedings continued.
“In spite of my request, the committee did not supply me with a copy of my video recording. I fear that my statement may not have been recorded in its entirety and may also have been tampered with to protect the accused,” said her complaint.
Raising “serious doubts” over the conduct of the inquiry, a third wrestler said, “My statement on video may not have been recorded in entirety or might have been altered in an attempt to protect the accused and thus I requested for a copy of the video recording, however, members of the oversight committee flatly turned down my request. This clearly shows that the oversight committee was not acting in a fair and transparent manner and it appears that they were working with an agenda to protect the accused.”
The oversight committee was chaired by legendary boxer MC Mary Kom, Chairperson IOA Athletes Commission. Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, former badminton international Trupti Murgunde, former SAI Executive Director (Teams) Radhica Sreeman, and former CEO, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Rajesh Rajagopalan. Former wrestler Babita Phogat was added to the panel at the request of the protesting wrestlers.
It submitted its report to the sports ministry in the first week of April. This has since been handed to Delhi Police.
Sreeman refuted the allegations on Friday, saying the inquiry was “fair and transparent”.
“The camera was never during the proceedings. Only when tea was being served or lunch was being served did we stop proceedings and restarted after five minutes,” said Sreeman.
“Everything was being recorded and submitted to the sports ministry. After the proceedings of the first day, when the complainants were called to depose, they (wrestlers) said outsiders are coming when tea or food was served, so we said ‘okay, we we will ensure that tea was served before, and if anyone requires water/tea we will close it (camera) for five minutes and restart the procedure,” she said.
“The committee has followed all due processes while recording the complainants’ statements,” said the former SAI administrator.
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