Global Courant 2023-05-30 16:41:12
Athletes protesting alleged sexual harassment by a top official threaten to throw away their medals in the temple town of Haridwar.
India’s top wrestlers have threatened to throw their medals into the Ganges River as they demand the arrest of the head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) over sexual harassment allegations.
In a joint statement Tuesday intensifying their month-long protest, the wrestlers, including Olympic medalists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, laid out their next move.
“We are going to immerse these medals in the river Ganges… The holier we find the Ganges, the holier we have achieved these medals through hard toil. These medals are sacred to the entire country and their proper place should be in the Ganga itself,” the statement said in Hindi.
“These medals are our life, our soul. There would be no reason to live after being submerged in the Ganges today,” it said.
Malik, in blue, is detained by police during a protest in New Delhi on Sunday (File: Altaf Qadri/AP)
The athletes said they would dispose of the medals in Haridwar, a temple town on the banks of the river considered sacred by Hindus.
After throwing away the medals, the athletes said they will return to the capital New Delhi to start a hunger strike at the British-era India Gate monument.
Camped in New Delhi since April 23, the wrestlers demanded action against WFI President Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied any wrongdoing. Singh is also a parliamentarian from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Indian wrestlers, from right, Bajrang Punia, Sangita Phogat and Vinesh Phogat talk to each other ahead of their protest march to the new parliament building in New Delhi (File: Shonal Ganguly/AP)
Several of the protesting wrestlers were briefly detained by Delhi police on Sunday and their camping grounds cleared after they attempted to move into India’s new parliament building inaugurated by Modi.
Singh, 66, has been stripped of his administrative powers but the wrestlers are seeking his arrest over allegations of sexual harassment against female wrestlers.
The protesting athletes have also sought the intervention of the Supreme Court, which has ordered the police to file a case against Singh.
