NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court will on Monday hear a petition by wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian seeking to set aside and declare as illegal the elections held by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
The petition by the wrestlers, who were at the forefront of last year’s protest at Jantar Mantar in the national capital demanding the arrest of former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for the alleged sexual harassment of seven women grapplers, is listed for hearing before Justice Sachin Datta.
The plea contended that the WFI elections, held on December 21, were in blatant violation of Sports Code and sought a direction to the federation to “cease and desist” from undertaking any activity pertaining to the sport of wrestling.
“The present Writ Petition is being filed by the Petitioners inter alia assailing, challenging, and seeking directions against the illegal action of the suspended Wrestling Federation of India conducting selection trials for the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships 2024 and Asian Olympic Games Qualifier Wrestling Tournament notified through its circular against the directives of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Wrestling Federation of India,” the petition said.
“The Petitioners would like to place on record that apart from them, there are many other athletes/wrestlers who are also facing similar harassment owing to their upright/honest stand... Every possible means have been deployed to muffle the voices of the protesting petitioners and deprive them from any future scope of participation at the international level,” it added.