Today, On 8th August, Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia have approached the Delhi High Court, challenging the legality of the December elections conducted by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Phogat also alleged that the WFI is actively involved in the Paris Olympic village, influencing decisions about her career.
New Delhi: A day after being disqualified at the Paris Olympics, wrestler Vinesh Phogat alleged in the Delhi High Court on Thursday that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its president Sanjay Singh were present at the Olympic village making decisions regarding her future.
Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, representing Vinesh Phogat, highlighted that this situation occurred despite the WFI’s elected executive committee being suspended by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in December 2023.
Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and others filed a writ petition earlier this year in the Delhi High Court, requesting that the court declare the fresh elections conducted for WFI in December 2023 as illegal due to non-compliance with the sports code. They also sought a stay on the functioning and operations of WFI.
The judgment on this application, reserved on May 24, is still pending.
On Thursday, the petitioners, including Phogat, through their counsel, urged Justice Sachin Datta to set a date for the verdict. Despite Senior Counsel Rahul Mehra‘s assertion that “India has lost a gold medal now,” the judge did not specify a date.
Justice Datta, currently part of a division bench with Justice Vibhu Bakhru, will need to assemble as a single judge to pronounce the verdict. Justice Datta has been hearing the wrestlers’ petition since March and had reserved the stay application for judgment, while the main writ petition remains pending.
In a hearing before Justice Purushaindra Kaurav, Senior Counsel Mehra stated,
“The WFI is being manned by proxies.”
He noted that Sanjay Singh, WFI president, was in the Olympic village making decisions about Vinesh Phogat’s fate.
Anil Soni, the Centre’s standing counsel, remarked,
“Today, the entire nation is with (Phogat); I’ll not argue against her.”
Meanwhile, Justice Kaurav instructed the respondents to complete their pleadings within a week regarding the writ petition. He also granted the wrestlers time to file a response if they wish to do so and scheduled the next hearing for September 12.
Mehra emphasized the urgency of the matter, requesting an earlier date, and stated,
“It is a national interest matter; the entire country is so upset.”
Three days after the Federation elections last year, the newly-elected executive committee of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), led by Sanjay Singh, a close aide of former WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh, suspended by the Union Sports Ministry. This followed allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Singh, a five-time BJP MP and former Indian wrestling supremo, leading to his resignation.
Subsequently, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) issued an office order on December 27, 2023, appointing an ad-hoc committee to oversee WFI operations. This committee tasked with athlete selection, submitting entries for international events, organizing sports activities, managing bank accounts, and more.
In February, United World Wrestling (UWW) lifted the suspension on WFI, allowing Indian athletes to compete internationally under the national flag again. This led WFI to propose conducting parallel trials for international competitions.
In April, an affidavit filed by IOA president P. T. Usha, accessed by the Indian Express, revealed that after UWW revoked WFI’s suspension, the IOA directed to dissolve the ad-hoc committee, as it had no sanction from UWW.
Usha stated that,
“In light of UWW’s revocation, there is no need for any ad-hoc committee or one-man committee, and WFI should continue to be governed by its elected body.”
Conversely, the Union Sports Ministry, through its director Anant Kumar, submitted an affidavit in April asserting that the government’s suspension of WFI’s recognition still “subsists” and that the ministry would “neither recognize nor provide any support to any activity of WFI.”