Olympic bronze medal-winning former wrestler Sakshi Malik has revealed in her autobiography, Witness, that ex-Wrestling Federation of India chief and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh tried to molest her.
The incident took place during the 2012 Asian Junior Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Malik, then 19, won her first gold medal in the 63kg category, she wrote in the book, excerpts of which were carried in a Times of India report.
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Post her win, she was taken to Singh's room to speak to her parents on the phone.
"[Brij Bhushan Sharan] 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,” Malik wrote in her autobiography.
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“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."
Malik further wrote that Singh stepped back after that, probably after he realised that she would not give in. “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."
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Malik, along with Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, were at the forefront of the protest against Singh, alleging he had sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure as the WFI chief. The case is being heard in a Delhi court.
Malik also revealed that she was molested in her childhood by a tuition teacher but she could not tell her family. “... I thought it was my fault. My tuition teacher from my school days 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."