Woman coach alleges she was slapped by male coach of one of complainants against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at wrestling trials | More sports News – Times of India

By Samir On Jun 10, 2023

NEW DELHI: A female wrestler – among the six complainants who have levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – and her male coach from the Mahadev wrestling academy, were recently involved in a physical altercation with a woman coach from Punjab during the recently-held selection trials for the Asian U15 and U20 championships at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) regional centre in Sonepat, TOI has learnt.
It’s been alleged by the female coach (name withheld on her request) in her written complaint addressed to the SAI Sonepat’s regional director Lalita Sharma that the male coach “abused me and slapped me” before snatching away her phone to check whether she had clicked photos of her girl trainee. TOI is in possession of the hand-written complaint.

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The incident occurred on the second day of trials on June 5 when Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) two-member ad-hoc committee members, Bhupendra Singh Bajwa and Suma Shirur, and SAI officials were present to oversee the conduct of the trials. It happened on the same day IOA president P T Usha had visited the regional centre to check the arrangements.
TOI is withholding the identity of the female wrestler, who appeared in trials representing Haryana in the U20 age category, since she is one of the complainants who has lodged FIR against Singh.
The male coach who allegedly misbehaved and slapped the woman is Vijender Gulia – also known as ‘Billa’ – who runs the Mahadev wrestling academy in Rohtak. Gulia and his academy were earlier accused by Singh of fuelling the protest against him. “Why only one family (Phogats) and one akhada is against me?” he had questioned. Out of the six women complainants, at least three come from this academy.

In her complaint, the coach wrote: “During competition, one coach named Vijender Gulia of Mahadev academy Rohtak misbehaved with me. He snatched my phone away, asked me to unlock it. He said that I had taken photographs of the trainee wrestler. There was no such photo in my phone. He abused me and slapped me. He threatened me and forced me to unlock my phone. He then snatched the phone from my hand. I request you to take action against this misbehaviour.”
When TOI reached out to the aggrieved coach, she, requesting anonymity, informed that she had even dialled 112 to call the Haryana police, which noted down her complaint but didn’t act against Gulia. It’s pertinent to mention here that Gulia worked as a constable in Haryana police before opening his academy.
“I did nothing. I was just sitting on my chair watching the bouts. Suddenly, a female wrestler (one of the complainants against Singh) accused me of taking photos without her permission. She then called up Gulia. Even before I could reason out with them, he took my phone away, manhandled me and slapped me. He then took some photos from my mobile phone from a distance inside the wrestling hall and later came to accuse me that I had taken those photos. The whole incident left me shocked. Later, I was forced to compromise by some people against my wishes,” the coach stated.
When the ad-hoc committee members were approached for their comments, none was ready to speak on record owing to the fear that instead of reporting the matter to the police or higher authorities, they chose to hush-up the incident.
However, one member later told TOI, “There was some confusion and miscommunication. Nothing more than that. Both of them gave us a written undertaking that they didn’t wish to pursue the matter. The matter was amicably resolved. It was a minor altercation. No need to blow things out of proportion.”
TOI tried to contact Lalita for her official reaction but she didn’t respond to calls and messages. Gulia couldn’t be reached for comments.