Returning the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards, Vinesh Phogat places them at Kartavya Path

After Delhi Police barred her from going to the prime minister’s office on Saturday, multiple World Championship winner Vinesh Phogat returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award, leaving the two trophies lying in the middle of the national capital’s Kartavya Path.

The gold medalist grappler from the Asian Games made the decision on Tuesday to return her Arjuna Award and Khel Ratna to the government, citing the pointlessness of such honors in light of the current struggles faced by wrestlers to get justice.

Phogat wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform him of her choice.

She tried to go to the prime minister’s office on Saturday to return her prizes, but she was stopped by the police.

She placed the trophies near the Kartavya Path in protest, and Delhi Police subsequently took them up.

Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, three Olympic medallists, had demonstrated against the election of Sanjay Singh, a close assistant of previous Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The three well-known grapplers had accused Singh of sexual harassment.

Sakshi also declared her retirement from professional wrestling not long after Sanjay Singh became the WFI Chief.

But, the Sports Ministry then suspended the recently elected panel for making choices that did not adhere to the terms of its own constitution. In the meantime, it requested that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) form an ad hoc panel to oversee the organization’s operations.

Phogat had said that their lives are not like those “fancy government advertisements” that preach about women’s empowerment and upliftment in a letter that was uploaded on X (previously Twitter).

In response to a mandate from the sports ministry, the IOA on Wednesday established a three-person ad hoc committee to oversee the WFI’s daily operations.