New Delhi: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat took to social media on Sunday to say that many supporters, women’s rights activists and members of the ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’ were detained by the Delhi police ahead of their planned protest outside the new Parliament House building. Hours later, Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and other protesting wrestlers too were detained from the protest site.
Videos from Jantar Mantar showed the wrestlers and their supporters trying to protect each other while the police pushed and pulled at them, trying to get them into custody.
The police has reportedly broken up the protest site at Jantar Mantar and removed all mats, tents and coolers.
In the neighbouring state of Haryana, where many women supporters were planning to join the protest, people were also detained. According to a report in The Indian Express, several farmers’ leaders, including BKU’s Gurnam Singh Chaduni, have been detained inside their homes in Haryana.
The group of protesting wrestlers, including Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, all from Haryana, have been demanding action against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP’s Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. The protest has continued for over a month and the athletes are resolved to not give in until Singh is arrested for the alleged sexual offences. Singh, however, has denied the accusations.
Bajrang Punia being detained. Photo: Vipin Kumar/National Herald
In a video posted on her official Twitter account on Sunday morning, Phogat had said that “democracy is being murdered openly”. Speaking in Hindi, the 28-year-old wrestler further added that the nation will remember how “women who were demanding their rights were suppressed while the new Parliament was being inaugurated”.
Malik too took to her Twitter account and wrote, “To all my international fraternity, our Prime Minister is inaugurating our new parliament. But on the other hand, our supporters have been arrested for supporting us.”
Later, Malik too was detained, her team tweeted.
According to an NDTV report, thousands of police personnel were deployed in central Delhi as part of security measures for the inauguration of the new parliament building and the planned ‘Mahila Mahapanchayat’ (Women’s Grand Assembly) by the wrestlers. All entry and exit gates at the Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan stations of the Delhi Metro have been closed.
Sakshi Malik breaching barricades put up by the police to try and stop wrestlers from reaching parliament. Photo: Vipin Kumar/National Herald
Sakshi Malik being detained by the police. Photo: Vipin Kumar/National Herald
In Delhi, speaking to the media, Special Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Dependra Pathak said, “Despite the denial of permission for their protest, the wrestlers insisted on conducting their Mahila Mahapanchayat near the new building. We respect our athletes, but we will not let there be any disturbance in the inauguration.”
As the number of detainees increased, the Delhi Police sought the Delhi Mayor’s permission to convert the MCD School Kanjhawala into a temporary jail. The permission, however, has been denied by Mayor Shelly Oberoi, as per an update in The Indian Express.
Many of the wrestlers’ supporters at Jantar Mantar were also detained. Photo: Vipin Kumar/National Herald
Tikri border, located in West Delhi, has been sealed. According to PTI, security has been beefed up in the border area to prevent farmers and women from entering Delhi to participate in ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers, mainly from Haryana and Punjab had gathered at the Tikri border to protest against the proposed Farms law.
