New Delhi: Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik has revealed shocking details of the alleged sexual harassment she faced from former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Sakshi, who retired from wrestling a few months ago after leading the wrestlers’ protest against Brij Bhushan in the national capital New Delhi, made the revelations in her memoir – ‘Witness’.
Malik alleged she was sexually harassed by Brij Bhushan during the Asian Junior Championship in Almaty Kazakhstan in 2012. Malik was 19 at the time and had won a gold medal in the tournament. She revealed she was called into Brij Bhushan’s hotel room on the pretext of speaking to her family back home and was sexually harassed by the ex-WFI chief.
Sakshi alleged she was told that she could speak to her parents back home on Brij Bhushan’s phone. However, what unfolded inside the hotel room remains one of the most traumatic experiences in the life of the Olympic bronze medal winner. Sakshi shared details of how Brij Bhushan made advances and touched her inappropriately in his room before she cried and ran away.
“Singh connected me to my parents. It seemed harmless. When I spoke to them telling them about my match and my medal, I remember thinking that perhaps nothing unsavoury might happen after all. But right after I ended the call, he tried to molest me while I was seated on his bed. I pushed him off and started to cry,” Sakshi wrote in her memoir.
“He stepped back after that. I think he realised that I wasn’t going to go along with what he wanted. He started saying that he had put his arms around me ‘papa jaise’ (as a father would). But I knew that was not what it was. I ran out of his room all the way back to mine, weeping,” she alleged further.
Sakshi led protests against Brij Bhushan along with the likes of Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia over multiple allegations of sexual harassment against the former WFI chief. Malik and five other female wrestlers accused Brij Bhushan of sexual harassment and outraging their modesty following which FIRs were registered against him and a Delhi Court framed charges. The case is still being heard in the court.
Brij Bhushan, a six-time Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kaiserganj, denied the charges, labelling it a political conspiracy against him. He stepped down from the position of WFI chief last year and has pleaded not guilty in court.
Sakshi Malik opens up on being molested in childhood
In her memoir, Malik revealed the incident during the Asian Junior Championship in 2012 was not the first time she faced sexual harassment in her life. The wrestler recalled how a tuition teacher used to molest her sexually in her childhood. The tuition would touch her inappropriately, leaving her scared and traumatised.
“I had been molested in my childhood too, but for a long time, I could not tell my family about it as I thought it was my fault. My tuition teacher used to harass me. He would call me over to his place for classes at odd times and sometimes tried to touch me. I was scared to go for my tuition classes but I could never tell my mom. This continued for a long time and I kept quiet about it,” revealed Sakshi.
The wrestler credited her mother for giving her the courage to stand up and fight against all odds to continue pursuing her training and realise her dream of becoming a wrestler. Sakshi revealed her mother also came to her rescue when Singh harassed her in Almaty and suggested her to focus on her training.
“My mother supported me not just during the incident with the tuition teacher but also when Singh started pursuing me. I tried to forget about what had happened at Almaty. That’s what my parents advised me to do too. They told me to focus on my training and competition. It doesn’t seem like much today, but I was grateful that I was allowed to continue to train, at least,” she added.
