Wrestlers Won’t Be Allowed To Protest At Jantar Mantar: Delhi Police

New Delhi: The tussle between Delhi Police and protesting wrestlers continued on Monday.

A day after filing FIRs against wrestlers accusing them of breaking the law, Delhi Police said they won’t be allowed to protest at Jantar Mantar.

“If the wrestlers apply for permission to stage a sit-in again in the future, they will be allowed at any of the suitable, notified places other than Jantar Mantar,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, tweeted in Hindi.

The DCP said that the sit-in protest had been going smoothly but the wrestlers on Sunday violated law and order in a frenzied manner despite repeated requests, and hence police had stopped their dharna at Jantar Mantar.

The wrestlers — including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia — have been accused of rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing public servants from discharging their duty.

The wrestlers, who were planning to march to the new Parliament building for a Mahila Mahapanchayat, refuted the charge that they were rioting or indulged in any violence.

They said there is evidence in the form of videos and photographs to show what actually happened.

“Everything is visible in the video. When there are 20-30 constables stopping one wrestler, how can we do any sort of riots? We were just trying to tell them that please don’t take us away. We just wanted to do a peaceful march because nobody is listening to us, but they forcefully dragged us inside the bus. We got scratches because of that. We didn’t do any rioting, we didn’t damage any public property. We neither pulled nor pushed the barricading. We are doing our peaceful protest from day one, and we were requesting them to let us go, but we were not allowed to go,” Olympic medallist Sakshi told ANI.

Several videos showed the Olympians and other wrestlers being shoved, pushed, pinned down to the ground and dragged into buses after Vinesh and Sangeeta Phogat attempted to breach the security barricades set up by the police.

For weeks, the wrestlers have been demanding the arrest of national federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexually harassing many of them, including a minor.

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