‘Protest Not Over’: Undeterred By Police Crackdown, Sakshi Malik Vows To Return To Jantar Mantar

New Delhi: The protesting wrestlers reiterated on Sunday that they will be tough nuts to crack.

They were detained by Delhi Police after trying to breach security cordon and move towards the new Parliament building for a planned ‘Mahila Mahapanchayat’ today.

Police then cleared the Jantar Mantar site where Sakshi Malik & Co. had been protesting since April 23, removing their cots, mattresses, coolers, fans and other belongings of the grapplers.

Undeterred by police crackdown, Sakshi vowed to return to Jantar Mantar as soon as the wrestlers are released by the police.

“Our protest is not over. Once released from police custody, we will start our Satyagraha back at Jantar Mantar. In this country, there will be Satyagraha of women wrestlers, not dictatorship,” Sakshi tweeted in Hindi.

Sakshi, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and others wrestlers were pushed into a bus and shifted to a temporary jail built at a private farmhouse in Burari.

The wrestlers were later taken for a medical examination.

Police said permission had not been granted to wrestlers, farmers and khap panchayat leaders to hold the ‘Mahila Mahapanchayat’ in Delhi, and hence the action against them for breaking law.

Several videos and photos showed police personnel manhandling the wrestlers.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has written to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora demanding the arrest of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and also sought the release of grapplers, as well as action against officers who detained them.

Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Arvind Kejriwal condemned police action against wrestlers.