Wrestlers file plea in SC, seek FIR against suspended WFI president

India's best wrestlers, who are currently holding a sit-in protest at the Jantar Mantar, moved their conflict forward by filing a writ petition asking for a directive to register an FIR against suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Senior advocate Narender Hooda, representing the wrestlers, put the plea before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. The wrestlers asked the supreme court to give instructions to the police after citing an unreasonable delay in the filing of an FIR by Delhi Police against the suspended WFI president. “Clearly, the Delhi Police is under political pressure. If this was a regular case, the accused would have been arrested by now. The complainants include a minor, so a case under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) should also be registered,” advocate Hooda said.
The sports ministry postponed and proclaimed the intended WFI elections for May 7 as "null and void" in another development that day that benefited the protesting wrestlers. In order to manage the day-to-day operations of WFI, the ministry asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to establish a temporary or ad hoc committee. It requested the IOA “to conduct the election of the executive committee of the WFI within 45 days of its formation”. Hectic parleys went on between the two parties for over an hour, but the wrestlers, led by Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, refused to relent. The wrestlers once again conducted a press conference and this time even pleaded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene. “I ask the PM why you are silent? When players get medals, you stand with them. But when they are on the road, then you are silent,'' said Bajrang. “When we win medals, we aren’t from Haryana or a particular community. But when we protest for our rights, we are from Haryana. Why this double standard?”