Wrestlers suspend stir after meeting minister

India’s top wrestlers suspended their protest against sexual harassment till June 15 after a six-hour-long meeting with Union sports minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday, marking the first sign of resolution in the months-long deadlock in talks between the players and the government amid indications that options were narrowing for former wrestling federation boss Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

- Sunetra Choudhary and Shantanu Srivastava

Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Satyavrat Kadian along with some of their coaches met Thakur at his residence and later said that they were satisfied with the talks and withdrew their protest till June 15, by when a charge sheet against Singh will be filed. Singh is facing two first information reports (FIRs) alleging sexual harassment, one by a group of six women wrestlers and another by a minor complainant.

“It’s a very positive development and everyone was understanding with each other. We want them to be back on the mat as soon as possible for the Asian Games and the Olympics,” Thakur told HT after the meeting.

The wrestlers and the government also agreed on a raft of other issues, including withdrawal of all criminal cases against the wrestlers, setting up of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) within Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with a female chief, security for the complainants, removal of Singh and his associates from WFI, scrapping of cases against affiliated academies, coaches and athletes, and transparent elections to WFI by June 30. HT has seen a copy of the list of wrestlers’ demands that the sports ministry agreed on.

The meeting, which began at around 11am and ended by 5pm, was termed “successful and positive” by Thakur.