SHIMLA: The senior citizens of capital city staged a strong but silent protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue on The Ridge here, demanding an immediate arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President of Indian Wrestling Federation, who faced sexual allegations levelled by the protesting wrestlers in Delhi.
The protest was joined by a large number of Shimla residents.
Even tourists joined this protest as their solidarity with the cause.
Those who participated in the protest include Deepak Sanan Retired IAS and former additional chief secretary HP, Prof Chetan Singh, former director IIAS, Shyama Dogra former judge CAT, Mala Singh former councilor MC Shimla, Prof Amar Singh Sankhyan former VC Law University, Prof Sisham Radha HOD National Law University Delhi, Prof Vijay Kaushal Retired from HPU, Prof Rajinder Chauhan, Retired from HPU, Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, Retired IFS, Sanjeev Bhushan senior Advocate HP High Court, Jagdish Thakur, Ashok Verma, Vishwa Bhishan, Bharti , Om Prakash , advocates HP High Court, Niranjan Verma, Prabhu Negi, advocates Shimla District Bar, Sonia, Meena, AIDWA leaders, Mahesh, Jagmohan Thakur, Kundan Sharma, Bhupendra, senior citizens, Sanjeev Khajuria and many other young leaders.
Holding placards, protestors demand immediate action against "Brij Bhushan, who has been denying the allegations as motivated and baseless".
A leaflet was also distributed on the occasion.
The CITYZENS state that India's top wrestlers, including two Olympic medallists and a world champion, have been sitting on a protest at Jantar Mantar since April 23.
Their demands for action against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, who has been accused of sexual harassment of female wrestlers.
But their demand is being ignored by the government.
“Till quite recently, BJP leaders could not stop talking about how sports persons were being venerated by the Prime Minister”. “Not a single Minister or leader of the ruling BJP has however met the protesters so far”, said Tikender Panwar, former deputy Mayor, Shimla.
This is not the first time the wrestlers are sitting in a protest demanding action against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Wrestlers took to the streets in January and were assured that a committee would look into the allegations.
The committee's report has not been made public, however, reports said it gave a clean chit to Brij Bhushan, said Panwar.
The Sports Minister has enough time to watch movies, and appear at events, but has not met, or even talked to the protesting wrestlers, they claim.
They are the same Ministers who would not miss a photo opportunity when a sportsperson comes back with a medal and also those who have made sports a business.
Sexual harassment accusations come under the category of a cognizable offense under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in Indian law.
“It mandates the police to register an FIR. However, Delhi Police did not register FIR for three months, which is illegal as per Indian law”, the protestors charged.
FIRs were filed only after the Supreme Court's intervention on April 28, 2023.
“It is strange that the government of the day does not even care about the law of the land being implemented, nor does the police in the national capital”, they alleged.
The Delhi Police has been targeting the protesters, by cutting off electricity, water, and food supplies to the protest site.
Delhi police barricaded many locations on Delhi's borders to stop supporters from joining. The Delhi police also manhandled the protesters late night on May 4.
Police have also detained students and others who tried to support the protests.
In this case, justice is not just being delayed, it is being outrightly denied, charged Deepak Sanan, Retired IAS and Tikender Panwar in a joint statement.
