The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik on Saturday said the minor wrestler who had accused outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh of sexual harassment had changed her statement because “her family was threatened”, the Telegraph reported.
The Delhi police had submitted a chargesheet before a trial court in the sexual harassment case against Singh on Thursday, but filed a closure report on the complaint from the minor wrestler, recommending the cancellation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) case against the MP.
Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian, who is also a wrestler, tweeted a video message on Saturday accompanied by the hashtag “The Truth” and talked about the initial delay in filing the complaints against Singh, the report said.
“The reason we were silent for so many days was because we lacked unity initially. Another reason you can understand that the minor wrestler gave her statement (before the magistrate) and after several days, she changed her statement because her family was threatened,” Malik said.
“How could we have raised our voices individually? Those who come to wrestling are from very poor backgrounds. They don’t have enough courage to raise their voice against such a powerful man. People would have realised by now what India’s top wrestlers had to go through even after raising their voices,” Malik said in the video.
The minor’s father was quoted by the Hindu saying that he had been threatened by people whose names he could not reveal and his family was “living in intense fear” even after withdrawing the complaint against Singh.
Malik has also been vocal about the atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by the six-time BJP MP in earlier interviews and said that there was “huge pressure” on the wrestlers to “compromise”.
Singh had claimed that the POCSO Act had been ‘misused’ against him and added that ‘we will force the government to change it’ under the leadership of seers. In another move to display power, he had taken out a rally in UP and said that he would contest the 2024 polls.
The chargesheet filed against Singh based on the FIRs by six adult women wrestlers invokes the Indian Penal Code’s sections 354 (assault or criminal force on women with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking). The FIRs cite at least 15 instances of sexual harassment and alleged instances of intimidation including stalking, the Telegraph report said.
In the video message, Kadian said: “You know we have been protesting against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh as he sexually harassed women wrestlers. Over the past few days, we have noticed that a counter-narrative is being made against us and rumours are being spread. Our objective behind making this video is to tell you the truth.”
While rubbishing the allegations that the protest was a ploy from the Congress, Kadian said, “Ninety percent people related to wrestling, including wrestlers and coaches, knew about the inappropriate behaviour women wrestlers were being subjected to for the last 10-12 years. Whenever anyone tried to raise their voice, word would reach the WFI president (Singh) and they started facing difficulties in their careers,”
“We have said again and again that our fight is not against the government but against the misdeeds of the WFI president,” he added.