Wrestling federation chief’s resignation: The spark lit by MeToo is hard to extinguish
Pooja Pillai writes: Each little victory matters in the uncertain, halting progress of the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace
Wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia started the protest at Jantar Mantar. (Photo: Praveen Khanna)
Consider this one small but significant victory for India’s MeToo movement: After digging his heels in and saying he won’t step down on account of the sexual harassment allegations against him, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has finally relinquished his position at the helm of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). A legislator with the ruling BJP, Singh had been the president of the WFI — and the most powerful person in Indian wrestling — for a decade. In the bluster of power, when wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, first spoke up against him on January 18, he had issued that challenge we’ve heard so many others, similarly accused, issue before: Let them prove it, I have not done anything wrong. As pressure built and his accusers refused to back down, however, Singh was finally forced to give in and submit to what is necessary — an investigation that can only take place if he is no longer in a position to intimidate.
Would such a thing have been possible before 2018, in the pre-MeToo days? Over the last few days, a long-ago case that has come up, again and again, is the tragic case of a once-promising young athlete from Haryana named Ruchika Girhotra. In 1990, Girhotra, an up-and-coming tennis player, accused former Haryana Director General of Police S P S Rathore, who was the president of the state’s tennis association, of sexually assaulting her. Over the next two years, Rathore, arguably aided by the government of the day, made life miserable for the young girl and her family and Girhotra finally committed suicide in 1993. Rathore was finally convicted by a CBI Special Court only in 2009. The conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2016, which reduced the sentence of 18 months to the six months he had already been in custody, due to his “advanced age”. In the intervening years, not only was Rathore protected by the governments of the day, but also received promotions.
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