'Better that truth comes out now': Minor wrestler's father on his Brij Bhushan U-turn

The father of the minor explained why he chose to record a fresh statement now denying sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan.

After making a spectacular U-turn and recording a fresh statement before the magistrate on June 5 in connection with the complaint against Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the father of the minor complainant on Thursday said he was coming clean now as it's better the truth comes out now instead of the court. The wrestlers' protest going on since January took a new twist with the change of statement by the minor -- through her father- who said the earlier complaint was deliberate and false. This came days after the protesting wrestlers refuted any such development on the part of the minor.

It is my duty I rectify my mistake, the father of the minor who earlier brought a sexual harassment complaint against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said.

Wrestlers suspend protest till June 15 after meeting sports minister Anurag Thakur

"Now that interactions have started, the government has promised fair enquiry into my daughter's defeat (in Asian U17 championship trials) last year, so it is also my duty that I rectify my mistake," the minor's father said in an interview with PTI.

"In anger, we had levelled some false allegations, and my daughter had faced some issues but all those mentioned in the FIR were not true,” the father told HT earlier.

Union sports minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said he held a positive meeting with the wrestlers on Wednesday where the government said that the chargesheet in the case will be filed by June 15 and the election to the Wrestling Federation of India will be held by June 30. "We also want the players to return to the mat soon and participate in competitions ahead," Anurag Thakur said.

'Losing one match is a waste of an entire year'

As the minor wrestler's father now pointed to a match which his daughter lost as the trigger for the complaint of sexual assault, he said losing a match meant losing all the labour of one year. He alleged that it was the mistake of the referee of the match and since the referee was appointed by the WFI, his anger justifiably was at Brij Bhushan.

'I joined the protest because...'

The minor's father said he joined the protesting wrestlers because he felt he should support them and nobody approached him. But his daughter was not sexually assaulted by Brij Bhushan, the father said.