Sakshi Malik, in her book ‘Witness’ published by Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut Books reveals incidents of her wrestling career, a really honest account of her life — the highs, lows, and everything in between of her literary, professional, ventureI great memoirs in this book, she said.A recent controversy reveals that Babita Phogat wanted to become Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, provoked wrestlers to protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh sexually harassing the female wrestlers. The charges framed by a handful of wrestlers against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, WFI chief allegedly sexually harassing the female wrestlers, attracted headlines in the newspapers for a long time when allegations were imposed and a case was also registered against him. Olympic bronze medalist and former wrestler Sakshi Malik said that Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia’s decision to take exemption from Asian Games trials last year affected the image of their protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh since it was made for selfish motives. Sakshi was also one of the three main wrestlers of this protest held at Jantar-Mantar New Delhi attracting not only public attention but also headlines in the newspapers. Sakshi also accused former wrestler and now a political leader Babita Phogat of taking advantage of the protest for her own selfish interests claiming that she wanted to become WFI chief and encouraged wrestlers to protest.
Sakshi, Bajrang and Vinesh, the three had accused former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing female wrestlers during his tenure and the case is still going on in a Delhi court. After the suspension of WFI, the ad-hoc committee started looking after the functioning of wrestling which gave Bajrang and Vinesh exemption in the trials for the 2023 Asian Games but Sakshi decided not to do so despite the suggestion of her colleagues. Ultimately Sakshi could not participate in the Asian Games because Vinesh was injured before the Games and Bajrang failed to win a medal. However, Sakshi did not disclose the names of those who convinced Bajrang and Vinesh to join the game to tarnish someone’s image for their own selfish interests. They started getting exemption from trials for the Games, which badly affected the image of protest thus leaving a situation in which many supporters protesting against WFI chief started thinking that they are protesting for someone’s own selfish interests. Both Vinesh and Bajrang joined the Congress party ahead of the Haryana assembly elections earlier this month, and Vinesh won assembly polls from Julana constituency while Bajrang became the head of the party’s national farmers’ unit.
Sakshi Malik claimed that Babita Phogat had gathered wrestlers for a meeting, urging them to protest against WFI chief’s alleged misconduct, aiming to take over his position as president of the Wrestling Federation under a conspiracy demanding arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in alleged misconduct, including cases of molestation alleged misconduct, including cases of molestation in New Delhi on April 24, 2023, who disclosed while having a talk with a media house recently. She denied the rumours that Congress supported our protest, but that’s false, rather two BJP leaders helped us secure permission to protest in Haryana, Babita Phogat added that the allegations by few, mainly three wrestlers that WFI chief Brij Bhushan, the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure the case is still undertrial is untrue, however there were few issues like sexual harassment and molestation within the federation and many female wrestlers believed that by having a woman in- charge there would be positive change for the female wrestlers in the Federation network, had extended support to this move without thinking such a big game going on in the Federation.
