MUMBAI: Delhi police have filed rioting cases against the country’s top wrestlers after detaining them over a protest.
Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, both Olympic medalists, were among the demonstrators detained on Sunday as they attempted to march to India’s new parliament. Later on in the evening, they were let go.
The wrestlers claimed they would return to the Delhi protest site when police cleared it
Vinesh Phogat, a two-time medalist at the World Championships, and her sister Sangeeta were also among the wrestlers who were taken into custody.
Punia was released from custody in the wee hours of the morning, while Vinesh Phogat and Malik were released in the afternoon. It’s unclear whether all of the demonstrators have already been let go.
The wrestlers started their protests on April 23 and called for the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the head of their organisation, for allegedly abusing female athletes.
Singh, a powerful congressman and politician from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has refuted the accusations accusing the wrestlers of being “politically motivated.”
On Sunday, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was officially inaugurating the nation’s new parliament building, a fight broke out between the wrestlers and the police.
Just a few kilometres from Jantar Mantar, where they had been camped out for more than a month, the protestors intended to hold a demonstration in front of the structure.
Delhi police said that the protesters did not follow their instructions and that they detained those who attempted to break security barricades.
Footage showed protesters climbing over barricades and being whisked away by the police.
Delhi’s Special Commissioner of Police told the media that the protesters broke the law.
However, Malik said that they had been “walking quietly” and that the police “dragged and forcibly detained” them without telling them where they were being taken.
Vinesh Phogat tweeted that the whole world was watching how the government was treating its players.
On Sunday evening, police filed cases against Malik, Punia, the Phogat sisters and “other protest organisers”. They had been accused of rioting, assembling illegally and obstructing public servants from doing their duty.
Visuals of the athletes being dragged and carried off in vehicles went viral, sparking censure from some top athletes and opposition politicians.
“This saddens me,” Neeraj Chopra, an Olympic medalist, tweeted in response to a video showing police dragging the Phogat sisters while they were sitting on the side of the road: “There has to be a better way to deal with this.
“Why does it have to come down to dragging about our wrestlers without any thought? No one should be treated in this manner. Sunil Chhetri, captain of the Indian football team, expressed his hope that the case will be evaluated fairly.
Rahul Gandhi of the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal, the chief executive of Delhi, were among the opposition figures who questioned the police’s conduct.
