5-member panel to run wrestling body
Mary Kom will lead panel and look into the allegations
Afive-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 yesterday.
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.
Ongoing battle
Earlier, speaking to reporters in Kolkata on Sunday, Anurag Thakur said that the Centre has heard all the players pertaining to allegations levelled against 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.