Ace shooter Manu Bhaker became the first Indian medallist at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Sunday evening by clinching the bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol event. The 22-year-old Haryana shooter also became the first Indian woman shooter to claim an Olympic medal when she finished behind South Korea duo Jin Ye Oh and Kim Yeji.
Not long after Manu Bhaker stepped on the podium to receive her medal, an old social media post started doing rounds on the internet. It was a tweet from Manu Bhaker's account expressing her solidarity with the protesting wrestlers during the anti-Brijbhushan Sharan Singh campaign days.
Posted on April 29, 2023 from Twitter (now X) '@realmanubhaker' the post claimed that she 'strongly stand with my fellow athletes."
"I am deeply pained to see the situation of my fellow athletes (Wrestlers) who have made nation proud many times by winning medals and are now sitting on the roads to seek justice. I strongly stand with my fellow athletes and request for appropriate action on their complaints," the post accompanied by a folded hand emoji read.
The handle has 158.2K followers on the microblogging site and has been active till July 12.
For the unversed, the Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet in the case against BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Saran Singh, a six-time MP, on June 15 under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Led by the likes of Bajrang Punia, Sakshee Malikkh and Vinesh Phoga, several Indian wrestlers had alleged Singh of sexual assault. They called for the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexually harassing women wrestlers. Thousands of people from different sections of society, including farmers groups, social workers, politicians, women's groups and members of the wrestling fraternity, came out to support Malikkh, Phogat and Punia.