NHRC issues notice to Sports Ministry over absence of panels to address sexual harassment charges

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on Thursday over reports that the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and four other bodies do not have an internal complaints committee to address sexual harassment charges, a senior official said.

The NHRC has also sent notices to the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the WFI, and several other national sports federations over reports that they either do not even have an ICC or a properly functional ICC as required by law, according to a statement issued by the rights panel.

The notices come at a time when several wrestlers are protesting at Jantar Mantar here demanding the sacking and arrest of WFI president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over charges of sexual harassment of women grapplers.

The NHRC has taken "suo motu cognisance of a media report that there is no Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) as mandated by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, 2013".

"Reportedly, the wrestling body is not the only one not having a duly constituted ICC. In addition to it, there are as many as 15 of the 30 national sports federations who do not meet this mandatory requirement," it said.

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