The top wrestlers of India are currently protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, on the allegations of prolonged sexual harassment against women wrestlers. The protesters demand the resignation of the president and the dissolution of WFI.
Against this backdrop, a video, claiming Brij Bhushan Singh slapped a young wrestler in Ranchi for demanding justice for the protesting wrestlers, is doing the rounds on social media.
A Facebook user posted the viral post with a caption: #Ranchi : A young wrestler came & said to Brijbhushan on stage, “Sir, we need justice”. On hearing this, the BJP MP slapped him. When this is the treatment met to men, then imagine what he would have done to women wrestlers?
Courtesy – Polytikles
You can check the post here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral post, and found it to be misleading.
Running a Google Keyword Search around the incident, we traced a news report in The Times of India, dated December 18, 2021, with a title: Wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loses cool, slaps wrestler in Public. It shows the same video which is being shared online these days.
As per the report, the incident took place in Ranchi, but in 2021, when an overage wrestler was prohibited from participating in the under-15 wrestling competition. The enraged participant climbed up on the stage where Brij Bhushan Singh was present and started arguing with him over his non-participation.
We found the same video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of BBC Hindi as well. The video report titled: BJP MP Slaps Wrestler : BJP सांसद Brij Bhushan ने Wrestler को मारा थप्पड़, Video Viral (BBC Hindi), published on December 18, 2021, corroborates the claims made in the report in The Times of India, confirming that it has nothing to do with the ongoing protest by the Indian wrestlers.
Therefore, we can conclusively say that the viral post, claiming WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh slapped a wrestler in Ranchi for demanding justice for the protesting wrestlers, is misleading.
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