Vinesh Phogat made history as the first Indian to reach the finals in wrestling, securing an Olympic medal for India. Twitter is abuzz with tweets about Vinesh Phogat, with many focusing more on her fight on street rather than ring.

Vinesh Phogat has accused WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan of sexual harassment, leading to a protest by wrestlers at Jantar Mantar. Images of her street protest went viral. However, many details of the events from January 2023 remain unknown to the public. Here, I will explain what the nation should know about this incident.

In January 2023, wrestlers protested, alleging sexual harassment, arbitrariness, and mismanagement within the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). In response, the government appointed an Oversight Committee led by Ms. M.C. Mary Kom, a Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna Awardee on January 23, 2023, to investigate the allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment, intimidation, financial irregularities, and administrative lapses raised by prominent athletes, and to manage the WFI's day-to-day operations.

Initially, the committee was asked to submit its report within four weeks, but the Ministry extended the deadline by two weeks to the third week of February. The Committee finally submitted the report on April 5, 2023. On April 28, I filed an RTI request for a copy of the report. Tarun Pareek, Under Secretary of the Sports Ministry, responded on May 26, stating that the report is not available.

Media reported that Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur met with the protesting wrestlers for four hours at his residence in New Delhi on Thursday, January 19. Later, on April 27, 2023, Union Minister Anurag Thakur made a statement that - “We heard wrestlers for 12 hours & formed a committee, we also want an impartial probe, there were 14 meetings that were conducted. Everybody was given an opportunity to keep their point of view in front of an oversight committee.”

However, when I filed an RTI seeking details about these meetings, the Ministry replied that no information was available.

On April 28, 2023, I filed an RTI requesting information about all meetings between the Sports Minister and wrestlers from January 1, 2023, to April 28, 2023, including: Date and time of each meeting , List of attendees, including ministry officials and Minutes of the meetings. Under secretary and CPIO, Tarun Pareek replied that- No information available.

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