Wrestlers' Protest: Network of Women in Media condemns sexual abuse of journalists on duty

Journalist Subhangi Misra tweeted on May 30 about having been molested by both male journalists and other men in Haridwar while covering the wrestlers' visit to the Ganges to consign their medals to the holy waters.

The wrestlers were in Haridwar in protest against non-action against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), who had been accused months ago by several women wrestlers (including a minor) of sexual harassment (and per recent reports on the FIRs, much more).

Misra said in her tweet and in the Twitter thread that it spawned that she and her colleague Manisha Mondal were both 'molested' — a common Indian euphemism for sexual abuse and harassment — and clarified it was not the protestors themselves (since at least one commentor decided to interpret it that way). She noted that Haridwar was crowded on the day because of crowds assembling for Ganga Dussehra.

Both women journalists work with The Print.

Misra's colleague Mondal said she was asked to move away and 'go behind the girls' by way of 'protection' and a woman police officer was deputed to move her aside rather than the men pushing up against her.

The full statement from the NWMI reads:

"The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) notes with distress the accounts about journalists Shubhangi Misra and Manisha Mondal of The Print being molested while on assignment covering the protest in Haridwar by India’s renowned wrestlers against sexual harassment by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and a Member of Parliament representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). We condemn this incident.

"The safety of women reporters in the field, especially in situations involving mass protests or mobilisation, has always been a matter of concern for the NWMI. In the past, we have called for better measures to be taken by media organisations for women’s security, as well as for more care and cooperation from local authorities.

"In the case of the ongoing, months-long protest by the country’s top wrestlers, the way the Delhi police manhandled the sporting champions as well as journalist Sakshi Joshi exactly a month ago, does not evoke much faith in the way authorities are handling the safety of women at protest sites. That some of the molesters in Haridwar were reportedly “men who had come to cover the protest” is also a matter of grave concern. The NWMI demands that suitable action be taken against such male journalists by their parent organisations..."