Wrestlers suspend their agitation till June 15 after minister sports agrees to fulfil their demands !
The protesting wrestlers who were forcibly evicted from Jantar Mantar and several cases lodged against them including being manhandled by the police and paramilitary on the day of new Parliament Building’s inauguration by prime minister Narendra Modi, have taken back their protests till June 15 after the union sports minister Anurag Thakur held several hours meeting with wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Satyavrat Kadian, several coaches etc accepting the formers’ long term pending demands for withdrawal of all cases against them , filing charge sheet against the former WFI chairman Brijbhushan Sharan Singh on various, action on severe charges levelled by the 6 women wrestlers etc. The meeting that started from 10 in the morning continued till 5 in the evening with sports minister Anurag Thakur accepting the major demands of the wrestlers making them agreeable to withdraw their ongoing protests till 15 June. The wrestlers had few days ago also met the Union home minister and put their long pending grievances and demands forth to which he had reportedly assured of action. There were posts in social media about the wrestlers fully withdrawing their protests and joining their respected duties, but these posts were termed as mere rumours by protesting wrestlers viz Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat denying these posts as biased and baseless. Meanwhile, the father of one of the wrestlers below 18 years has retracted and withdrew the serious charges of allegations against the WFI chairman Brijbhushan Sharan Singh saying that in the fit of anger the charges were levelled. It may be recalled that an FIR on POSCO charges was filed against Kaiser ganja MP and former WFI chief.
The major points of agreements reached between the protesting wrestlers and the government are – Withdrawal of all criminal cases against them, setting up of the Complaint committee within the WFI with its chief being a woman, security by the government to the complainants suspecting alleged retaliation, removal of the former WFI chief from the wrestling body including his associates too who are in various responsible positions in the Wrestling bodies including coaches etc , withdrawal of cases against affiliated academies, coaches and athletes.
The wrestlers also demanded transparent elections latest by June 30 in WFI which has been agreed to.
Meanwhile statements of 18 persons have been recorded on Wednesday by Delhi Police in connection with the case and till now total 202 people, including wrestlers, and people in acquaintance to the former WFI chief and MP have been probed by the police.
These people were probed by the police or their statements elicited from the complainants, and associates, family members and friends of the former WFI chief etc.
The wrestlers have stopped their protests till 15 th June and said that if action is taken on all their agreed demands the protests will be withdrawn after 15 th June as well but if the government fails to fulfill them, they will intensify their agitation after the deadline.
