Bajrang Punia, an Olympic medalist, has decided to return his Padma Shri award as a protest against the lack of action and justice for players in the face of serious allegations of sexual harassment within the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Punia expressed his frustration in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the players' grievances.
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat responds to Bajrang Punia's tweet, said Waiting for a player to cry when they die. Congratulations on your new India, in honor of women.
Punia expressed his frustration in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the players' grievances. Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia, an Olympic medalist, has decided to return his Padma Shri award as a protest against the lack of action and justice for players in the face of serious allegations of sexual harassment within the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
In videos posted on X, formally known as Twitter, Punia was not allowed to enter Kartavya Path in Delhi to return his Padma Shri. Punia then left his award on the footpath.
An hour before this, the Haryana wrestler, in a letter addressed to Prime Minister which he posted on X, Punia said, “Dear Prime Minister ji, hope your health is well. You must be busy in many work but I am writing this to draw your attention to what is happening to the wrestlers of the country. You must be aware that the women wrestlers of the country started a protest in January this year against Brij Bhushan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment. I too had joined their protest. The protest stopped after the government promised strong action,” the Commonwealth Games medal winning wrestler wrote.
“But even after three months, there was no FIR against Brij Bhushan. So we took to the streets in April again so that the Delhi police would at least file an FIR against him. There were 19 complainants in January but the number came down to 7 by April. This means Brij Bhushan exerted his influence and forced the other 12 wrestlers to leave their protests,” he continued.