A video telecast on a once popular news channel has gone viral. The prime minister is seen bowing down to a woman at the airport during his recent visit to Papua New Guinea. The report was titled “From his mother to political leaders, how PM shows respect towards women''. The short clip also shows Narendra Modi bowing in front of his mother, a 104-year-old woman, and even the Akali Dal leader Harsimran Kaur! The reporter assumes that bowing in front of someone shows how much a person respects the other.

In stark contrast is what has been happening at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for the last one month. Celebrated women wrestlers have been continuously protesting in the hope that one day the government will bow down to their request. One day, the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) will be put behind bars. One day, their pleas will be heard and they will get justice.

What started with a few people now has the support of so many organisations, collectives, political leaders and so on. Not only this, even ASHA workers and farmers have joined hands to support them. Does this not show how legitimate the demand is?

For those who are wondering why these women wish to see the WFI chief in jail, the issue has been making headlines for the last five months. The women wrestlers have accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the BJP MP, of sexual harassment. One of the victims was a minor!

The wrestlers protested in the month of January on the same issue. However, they were persuaded to go home on the promise that proper investigation will be done. In fact, a committee was formed especially for this purpose. However, when they noticed that the committee was moving in a different direction, they took to the streets again on April 23.

The police did not even register an FIR against the accused, despite the national and international attention the issue received. In view of the callous behaviour of the powers-that-be, the wrestlers had to move the apex court, which directed the police to register two FIRs in the cases. One was filed under the POCSO Act and the other under the “relevant” sections of the IPC.

Even after filing the FIRs, the matter was dragged for more than two weeks. Looks like the police might have taken a lot of courage to record the statement of the complainants in front of the magistrate. Post this, nothing much has been done so far. Brij Bhushan Singh has been appearing on various TV channels, alleging that the campaign has been planted at the behest of a few people, who are against him. He  even organised a show of strength in his constituency!

Be that as it may, the fact remains that the women wrestlers have had a bad time. They have been asking for a fair investigation so that the culprit can be punished. Why have their pleas fallen on deaf ears? Is this the respect for women that the Modi government speaks of? The respect of the Pradhan Sevak would have increased manifold had he intervened and asked the WFI chief to step down.

However, it looks like the powers-that-be have some vested interest in suppressing the facts. Small wonder the report prepared by the oversight committee was not made public. Not only this, it spoke more about the lapses in the WFI than the allegations of harassment against Brij Bhushan Singh.

Meanwhile, a few people, including a physiotherapist, Paramjeet, have given statements; Paramjeet mentioned that he came across a few girls who were feeling a lot of pressure and were asked to “meet Brij Bhushan at night” during the 2014 camp at Lucknow. He has also mentioned that he had shared this information with the women’s coach Kuldeep Malik but to no avail.

“People ask today why the girls are speaking up only now. They were scared because of threats that their names would be removed from the national camp list, and they feared that the selection trials would not be fair,” he said.

He gave the same statement in front of the oversight committee as well. Initially, he was not allowed to speak, as a member constantly asked him to provide evidence. However, the chairperson allowed him to record his statement.

Not only this, one of the committee members refused to sign the report on account of various lapses in the investigation. All this certainly requires a deeper investigation. The wrestlers have been alleging harassment since 2012 and have also quoted incidents as close as 2022.

Well, the issue should not be restricted to wrestling alone. Sexual harassment has been rampant across various professions, including sports. In most cases, women have to face the heat. They have to repeatedly give statements and literally go through the entire trauma again and again.

A report published in the year 2021, “Dangers lurking for sportspersons in India”, says that there could be around 200 perpetrators and 10,000 victims across 53 sports in India. Yet, only 45 cases have been registered in 24 centres of the Sports Authority of India over the last 10 years. 

Despite the severity of the cases, hardly any woman comes out in the open and speaks up against such people. The report mentions that 70 percent women do not even report sexual harassment against their superiors. The reasons could be manifold. One, the fear of failing in the career or losing their jobs. Another reason is the lack of effective grievance redressal mechanisms.

Another report shows that 16 out of 30 national sports federations in India do not comply with the provisions of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act. There is no valid internal complaint committee to investigate cases in these federations. 

Five federations, including the wrestling one, do not have an ICC, while four do not have the desired number of members in the committee and six lack the presence of an external member and one has two panels without any independent member. Is this not a rampant violation of law? 

Why are the authorities not serious enough to comply with the law? Many times, people, who have participated in making such laws, also head such organisations. If the legislators like Brij Bhushan Singh themselves do not take any interest in getting the law implemented, what can be expected from the general public?

It is a pity that the same government which takes pride in honouring the daughters when they win medals at the international events, have been forced to sleep on footpaths during this harsh summer. The girls, who should have been preparing for the upcoming events, have been demanding justice for so long.

The famous wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, wrote in a newspaper, "The Asian Games is around the corner and the qualifying cycle for the Olympics is beginning and though we have to represent India and win medals, at the moment this is a bigger battle. Because if we wind up our protest without getting justice, then women who face sexual harassment will stay silent and suffer."

It is a pity that a government which has gained a lot of popularity for promoting Beti Bachao, Beti Padao, is shielding an accused, simply because he is a BJP MP. What kind of a Ram Rajya is this? Is this what the government means by “sabka saath, sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas?”