“Our wrestlers make us proud,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they won medals at the World Wrestling Championship at Belgrade a couple of years back. He has showered such encomiums several times when the wrestling stars occupied the victory podiums at various international arena. The same stars are now sleeping under the stars in the heart of Delhi. They are seeking justice for the alleged sexual harassment seven of their ilk, including a minor girl, faced at the hands of the Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh. A month has passed since they are sitting on dharna at Jantar Mantar, not far from the Prime Minister’s residence. The Prime Minister who went gaga, when they won medals, has not utter a word; nor his senior party colleagues have come out in support of their cause. The tears of the wrestlers and their pleas would melt any heart that has not gone numb.

The wrestlers’ issue brings out the hypocrisy of the government that goes to town with the slogan ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao’; it exposes the humbug of the government that publicises the slogan across the country through every media; it unmasks the duplicity of the BJP leaders who raise it from every public platform. Now one among their own leaders has been allegedly caught with pants down, yet he is roaming around freely. Since one of the victims was a minor (at the time when the alleged assault took place) it is a case registered under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act which is a non-bailable offence. But the accused is moving around as if he is a law unto himself. If the accused was an ordinary mortal, he would have been counting bars in a prison cell in no time.  

It is nothing but a mystery why the accused has not been arrested till date. He might be a powerful Member of Parliament with deep-rooted connections. But he deserves no leniency, and should be treated at par with any other citizen. The victims involve seven ‘stars’ shining on the Indian wrestling horizon. They are the girls who brought laurels to the country. Yet, they are spending days, and nights, in the searing heat of the Delhi summer, in the open. Their perseverance in the matter tells the trauma they might have undergone at the hands of the accused. It shows their determination, which is no less than their resoluteness to win medals, to fight against a deaf and dumb system and get justice to the victims. The accused Brij Bhushan Singh may have stepped aside from the day-to-day functioning of the Wrestling Federation of India. But his clout is such that he can derail the investigation as long as he moves around freely. 

The BJP, which claims to be a party with a difference, should prove that it is worth its salt. It is most unfortunate that even the party’s women MPs have not come to the rescue of the girls, nor they have uttered a word against the accused. They clamour for justice only when the opposition leaders are seemingly at fault. But when one of their on ilk is accused of a heinous crime, they keep a studied silence. The wheels of justice should move faster so that the victims, who are pushed against the wall, get justice.