Thu 04 May 2023:
The ongoing wrestlers’ protest intensified on Thursday morning after a scuffle broke out between protesting grapplers and Delhi Police at Jantar Mantar late Wednesday night. Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who said that a Delhi police personnel manhandled and shoved protesting grapplers, today said “she will return all her medals”.
Around 11 pm on Wednesday, a scuffle broke out when the wrestlers were bringing in folding beds for sleeping and the on-duty police personnel began enquiring about that as rules do not permit bringing in such things at the protest site.
VIDEO | "The area is filled with water and there was no place to sleep, so we thought of bringing the cots…," says wrestler Vinesh Phogat. pic.twitter.com/TWmqxdImlR
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 3, 2023
In a video being circulated on social media, some of the protesters can be heard accusing a police personnel of attacking two wrestlers under the influence of alcohol, news agency PTI reported.
Delhi Police on Thursday denied allegations that its personnel were drunk or used force against protesting wrestlers during a late-night ruckus at Jantar Mantar between police and some grapplers. The deputy commissioner of police (DCP), New Delhi, said five police personnel were injured in the Wednesday night ruckus. The wrestlers, on the other hand, have alleged that they were beaten up by the police and a couple of protesters were injured in the head.
Students from all across delhi called for a protest in our solidarity. They were manhandled and detained by the police. The female students were threatened and harassed by police under the detention but they will continue to fight for us. #wrestlersprotest #istandwithchampions pic.twitter.com/lUPWTFP6gX
— Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) May 3, 2023
“We will return all the medals won at the international level and those given by the government. To what level, will we tolerate the humiliation? We are being humiliated, dragged to the ground,” Phogat said, who also broke down in a late night media interaction on Wednesday, saying that a Delhi Police personnel pushed and manhandled them.
The demonstration in the national capital comes in the wake of sexual assault allegations against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Singh.
Why are top Indian wrestlers protesting on the streets?
Top Indian wrestlers have been protesting on the streets of New Delhi for the last 10 days over the lack of action against the head of the country’s wrestling federation, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, whom they accuse of sexual harassment.
Singh, who is also a parliamentarian from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been accused of harassing several female athletes but has denied all the allegations.
The protesting athletes have demanded an “immediate arrest” and sought the intervention of the Supreme Court, which directed the police to register a case against 66-year-old Singh.
In a press conference this morning, Vinesh Phogat detailed the scuffle between the protesting wrestlers and the Delhi Police:
“Lots of rain yesterday, and the roads were full of water, so we weren’t able to sleep on the mattresses, so we had asked for foldable wooden cots.
We went outside to the car to receive them, but a policeman, Dharmender, was refusing the tempo’s entry. So we decided to pick up a few and bring them into the area, but he was refusing that as well, and started misbehaving with us.
He was pushing us around and getting aggressive, and when we objected, he still didn’t stop. Even then, there was no female constable to deal with us.
We needed to take the beds in to sleep, so when we tried to take them in, he resisted, he pushed my chest and grabbed my arms trying to get us to stop. Again I objected, and he turned around and abused my sister. When the news cameras came, he became quiet. And just then, there was a different police officer who was drinking, who quickly went and hid in the washroom. He was so drunk he couldn’t even stand straight. And he was staring at us.
“If this is how the wrestlers will be treated, what will we do with the medals? Rather we will live an ordinary life and return all the medals and awards to the Indian government,” Bajrang, an Olympic bronze medallist, told reporters on Thursday morning.
Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang are all winners of Khel Ratna, country’s highest sporting honour. Skashi (2017) and Bajrang (2019) are also recipients of the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour.
“What’s the point of the medals when we’re being treated this way? Take back the medals. Take back the government awards. When the police is behaving this way – abusing, roughing us up and pushing us around – then they don’t remember the awards we’ve been given, the medals we have won? It’s disrespectful.”
The protesting wrestlers on Thursday claimed that Delhi Police have taken away their generator set and the mattresses they had kept for drying, even as heavy police deployment continued near the protest site. “Delhi Police have taken away our mattresses which we have kept for drying. They have taken away our generator set,” one of the wrestler’s was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Law is one for all. ‘Law of the ruler’ can’t hijack the dignity of these fighters. You can assault them but can’t break their spirit. The fight is right and the fight will continue. Don’t dare to hurt our wrestlers, the nation is watching their tears and the nation won’t forgive you. I urge our wrestlers to stay strong, I share all my strength with them,” – Mamta Banerjee
Disrobing the honour of our daughters in this manner is utterly shameful. India stands by its daughters and I as a human being definitely stand by our wrestlers. Law is one for all. “Law of the ruler” cant hijack the dignity of these fighters. You can assault them but can’t break…
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 4, 2023
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday condemned the ‘manhandling’ of protesting women wrestlers here as shameful, and accused the BJP of never shying away from committing atrocities on the daughters of the country.
देश के खिलाड़ियों के साथ ऐसा बर्ताव बहुत ही शर्मनाक है।
‘बेटी बचाओ' बस ढोंग है! असल में भाजपा भारत की बेटियों पर अत्याचार करने से कभी पीछे नहीं हटी है। pic.twitter.com/TRgPyM8UbF
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 4, 2023
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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