# A sanctioned witch-hunt #Omnivore ## Colophon title:: A sanctioned witch-hunt type:: [[clipped-note]] tags:: [[&omnivore]] Newsletter url:: https://prempanicker.substack.com/p/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt archive:: https://omnivore.app/me/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt-1913d0e3dfe date:: [[2024-08-10]] ## Highlights tags:: > <mark class="omni omni-yellow">Another story: In a bid to get the protesting wrestlers to ease off, the then Sports Minister Anurag Thakur worked with IOA president PT Usha to set up an Oversight Committee, headed by former boxing champion Mary Kom, to “investigate allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment, intimidation, financial irregularities, and administrative lapses raised by prominent athletes, and to manage the WFI's day-to-day operations.”</mark> <mark class="omni omni-yellow">The Kom committee handed in its report in the third week of February — or so we were told. The protesting wrestlers asked for the report to be made public. The government stalled and said the findings could well be part of a subsequent police investigation.</mark> <mark class="omni omni-yellow">Now, the ministry [in response](https://substack.com/redirect/739af3b4-dab6-4042-83aa-2856dc104e1e?j=eyJ1IjoiZHI5OW4ifQ.TkB5aaK3urcRAoIqMo7i4RAYnb5GuIc-u8FFruB7GjU) to an RTI inquiry says the report is **not available**. (In passing, I wish Quint, which published the story earlier today, had posted the ministry’s response on its letterhead.)</mark> [⤴️](https://omnivore.app/me/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt-1913d0e3dfe#2f65acf3-4d9b-445a-99f7-fd70e2d0db51) ^2f65acf3 tags:: > <mark class="omni omni-yellow">All of this begs a question: If this is how we — the government, its side-kicks and hangers-on, its troll army, and the media — treat an athlete who has brought laurels to the country, by what right do we expect India to do well in sporting competitions? How do we expect young people to take to sport? (Remember, right at the start of the protest, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik said, repeatedly, that they were moved to start their protest because they were getting phone calls from across the country, from young girls complaining that they were being molested in the training camps.)</mark> [⤴️](https://omnivore.app/me/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt-1913d0e3dfe#a8a621f1-045c-4e06-8c9a-6306e0a3c2c4) ^a8a621f1 [Read on Omnivore](https://omnivore.app/me/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt-1913d0e3dfe) [Read Original](https://prempanicker.substack.com/p/a-sanctioned-witch-hunt)