New Delhi: Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat has accepted wrestling body chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s challenge that he would undergo a narco test over sexual harassment charges if Phogat did too.
Speaking to the media at their makeshift protest site in Delhi, Phogat said that all seven complainants were also ready to take the test. “He has challenged me and Bajrang Punia, but these seven girls will take the test too. It should be telecast live so that the entire country knows about his cruelty to its daughters,” Phogat said.
The protesting wrestlers had dared the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief on 11 May to take a lie detector test if he was so confident of his innocence to the accusations against him.
Replying to that charge, Singh said Sunday that he was ready to take the test if Phogat and Olympian Bajrang Punia also took it.
The wrestlers have protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for nearly a month now and say they will continue the fight till Singh is arrested.
Phogat — a Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist — has said Singh was being protected by the government and that he would continue to influence everybody, including the police, if he stayed out of jail.
She has also said they would write to international Olympians and ask them to support their cause.
Olympian Sakshi Malik, another popular face of the protests, has said: “We will step outside of Jantar Mantar. We feel that our protest is being confined. We want our protest to reach everybody because this is a fight for the women of our country.”
This is the second round of protests by the wrestlers — who had hit the streets earlier this year – for action against the BJP MP.
A committee was formed to hear their concerns, and an ad-hoc panel also constituted to oversee the day-to-day working of the Wrestling Federation by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
The Delhi Police has also registered an FIR against Singh but the wrestlers say they will continue their protest unless he is removed from all posts.
Also read: Wrestlers Protest: Khap Panchayat to hold candle march at India Gate on May 23