Says his family suffered the most and he is in constant trauma due to the false charge
Wrestling referee Virender Malik on Wednesday claimed innocence in the alleged sexual assault charge and said he wasn’t even told who filed the complaint against him.
Malik, who was one of the referees at the just concluded Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was detained by the Scotland Yard for an alleged sexual assault but later released due to lack of evidence.
“I was sleeping in my room. At around 3am, a knock on the door woke me up. I thought Mr Ashok Sharma (a tactical official) had come to wake me up because I had a flight in the morning. But it was the police. They asked me to go with them to the police station. I asked why, they said, ‘you will know that at the police station’. I had no option but to do what they were asking me to do,” Malik told The Pioneer.
“When we reached the police station, I was told my rights and asked if I wanted to hire a lawyer. I told them I didn’t have money for that. Then a Government lawyer was provided to me.
“I am not good in English so I also asked for an interpreter which was duly provided — a sikh. In the presence of my lawyer and interpreter, I answered all their queries. From their response, I felt they were satisfied by my replies.
“After that I asked them about the girl who had filed the case against me but they said they couldn’t disclose her name,” the 45-year-old referee said.
He was kept in detention for two days (August 2 and 3) because it was a weekend. All the charges against him were dropped on Monday and he was released. He didn’t even need to go to the court.
Due to this humiliation, Malik said, he and his family have suffered a lot, most of which was due to the media.
“My family is very reputed in my village (Khanpur Kalan in Sonipat district, Haryana). You can’t imagine what my mother had to go through. Her tears didn’t stop for four days. My daughter started crying as soon as I entered home. She cried for more than hour,” the referee said.
Asked if he was planning to take any legal action against the Scotland police and media channels for defamation, Malik said he and his family haven’t recovered from the incident yet.
“My elder brother hasn’t stepped out of our home for the last three days. My wife didn’t go to the college where she works. My daughter is in second year of her BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies), she hasn’t attended her college. You can imagine how much humiliation my family and I have faced,” he said.
“We are still recovering from the horrible time that we all went through. I haven’t decided about taking any action. I will discuss it with my seniors in the WFI (Wrestling Federation of India) and my family members and then take a decision,” he added.
Malik’s problems didn’t get over even after the release. Due to detention, Malik missed his flight and had to pay `75,000 from his pocket to return home.
“Because of his ‘no show’, the ticket that we (WFI) gave him got wasted. And if he was innocent, the Scotland authorities or Indian High Commission should have made some arrangements for him,” Vinod Tomar, assistant secretary of WFI, said.
“The decision to refund the amount will be taken in a meeting,” he added.