Wrestlers End Street Protest, Go Back to Their Office

Wrestlers End Street Protest, Go Back to Their Office

Now, with the termination of the wrestlers’ protest, it is likely that the accused Brij Bhushan will get off scot-free and wrestlers will have to stay without justice.

By Rakesh Raman

The wrestlers – including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia who were leading a protest against politician Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (Brij Bhushan) – have joined their office jobs leaving the protest in the lurch.

According to an NDTV report of today (June 5), the protesting wrestlers have resumed their jobs in the Railways, although they said they will continue the protest. It is not yet known how they will protest from the rooms of their offices.

While thousands of people from different walks of life had been supporting the wrestlers for the past over a month, these wrestlers have ditched them for their own selfish interests.

Although the sexually harassed women wrestlers are issuing misleading statements about the continuation of their protest against Brij Bhushan, the fact is that they have stopped the agitation for all practical purposes.

Since the accused – Brij Bhushan – in this case belongs to the ruling regime in India, no action is being taken against him despite a constant protest by the victims and their supporters in New Delhi.

Finally, the protesters have called off their street demonstrations without getting justice. It was expected also because the ruling regime of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi had simply ignored the wrestlers’ demands to get Modi’s colleague Brij Bhushan arrested and jailed.

Although it is reported that a couple of days ago, the aggrieved wrestlers had met India’s Home Minister Amit Shah to seek justice, they failed to get a positive response.

The harassed wrestlers held a peaceful protest in New Delhi for about a month before Delhi Police unleashed its brutality on them on May 28 and threw them away from the Jantar Mantar protest site. It is often seen that such peaceful protests do not succeed in authoritarian regimes such as India. 

Such protests by the oppressed citizens have repeatedly failed in the autocratic nations such Belarus, China, Israel, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, and so on. Rather, the protesters are being attacked, incarcerated, tortured, or even killed by the police and security forces.

It is alleged in the first information report (FIR) of Delhi Police filed on April 28, 2023 that Brij Bhushan had been demanding “sexual favours” from the female wrestlers including minors and there are at least 15 incidents of sexual harassment that include 10 episodes of inappropriate touching and molestation. 

Now, with the termination of the wrestlers’ protest, it is likely that the accused Brij Bhushan will get off scot-free and wrestlers will have to stay without justice.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.