Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal slammed the Central Government over the ongoing protest regarding the allegations of sexual harassment by renowned women wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Singh. He asked whether POCSO and immediate arrest applies to everyone but Singh because he belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Sibal wrote on Twitter, “Brij Bhushan Singh: Does application of POCSO and immediate arrest after 164 statements apply to all accused other than Brij Bhushan? Because he: 1)Belongs to BJP, 2)iconic women wrestlers don’t matter; votes matter! 3) Government doesn’t care.”
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It is to be noted that as per stipulations of the POCSO, or the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, if an individual is accused under this act, an arrest has to be made immediately. As per a statement from the Delhi Police, which was released in early May, following a Supreme Court direction, an FIR was registered against Singh under the POCSO Act, and the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, based on the allegations of sexual harassment by a minor wrestler against Singh.
This statement by Sibal, a senior advocate representing the protesting wrestlers in the Supreme Court, came a day after the protesting wrestlers, along with hundreds of supporters, reached Haridwar on Tuesday to immerse their medals into the holy river Ganga. However, the wrestlers did not proceed with the step as farmer leader Naresh Tikait intervened and sought a five-day time from the protesting wrestlers to resolve the matter.
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Yesterday, wrestlers reached Haridwar to ‘throw away’ their medals; however, almost an hour later, Tikait reached the spot and asked them not to throw away their medals.
Olympic medal-winning wrestlers Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, along with Vinesh Phogat, have accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), of sexual harassment and are calling for his arrest. The Delhi Police filed two FIRs against Singh last month.