Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik has made shocking revelations in her autobiography "Witness." Babita Phogat has reacted to some of her claims in the book.
Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik has made major revelations in her newly released autobiography, "Witness." She has alleged that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), attempted to sexually harass her during the Asian Junior Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2012.
Describing the incident, she mentioned that she was summoned to Singh’s hotel room under the guise of a phone call with her parents. However, she alleges that after the call ended, Singh tried to molest her while she was seated on his bed.
"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," she shared in her book, as reported by the Times of India.
“I wanted to write a book for a long time, especially after the Olympics. I wanted my story to be told. I wanted it to inspire and inform many girls because of my struggles. I wanted everyone to know. After the protests, I decided this, and after a few days, I started hearing things about seniors. People said things like, ‘This is the man,’ and ‘He’s like that.’ In 2012, I had an accident when then-president Brij Bhushan Singh harassed me. I knew that this was wrong and I said straightforward no to it, I have also told the story in my book, that time was really difficult for me,” Malik said.
The Olympic medalist said that she remained silent at that time because scared of Singh’s influence in the wrestling community and that speaking out could jeopardize her career.
“If I had raised my voice at that time, I wouldn’t be sitting here as an Olympic medalist today. My career would have ended right there. So, I thought it was better to stay quiet and continue without paying attention to that. After my husband’s situation, it was difficult. The next 3-4 years were tough because training among those same people, competing in trials, and then going for international competitions was challenging,” she said while explaining the reason for her silence to the news agency IANS.
Sakshi Malik, in an interview with India Today TV, claimed that Babita Phogat had an ulterior motive to become WFI President and that is why she encouraged wrestlers to protest against Brij Bhushan Singh. “Babita Phogat approached us with the idea of protesting against Brij Bhushan Singh because she had her own agenda — she wanted to become the WFI president,” she said.
"It's not that we blindly followed her, but we were aware that there were serious issues like sexual harassment and molestation within the federation. We believed that having a woman in charge, especially someone like Babita Phogat, who is also a sportsperson, would bring positive change. We trusted that she would understand our struggles. But we never anticipated that she would play such a big game with us," Malik further added.
BJP leader Babita Phogat on Wednesday dismissed Malik's allegations as "baseless."
“She also needed Babita Phogat's name to release her book,” Phogat said claiming Malik is leveraging her name for personal gain “
“I think she loves my name... I have no posts. I have left all the posts that she is talking about. Tomorrow, she might say that I made her raise accusations of sexual harassment,” she further said.