The Olympic medal-winning wrestlers of India who have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar for over a month against the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) were dragged by police personnel on Sunday, May 28. A video of the same was shared by one of the affected wrestlers Sakshi Malik, and the same was quote-Tweeted by India's current most high-profile athlete in Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra.
Resharing the original Tweet, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold winner expressed his disappointment after the protesting wrestlers were detained by the police on Sunday. First, in Hindi he wrote, "Ye Dekhkar bahut dukh ho raha hai (Seeing this is very sad)," after which he wrote in English, "There has to be a better way to deal with this.
On Sunday, some of the protestors, including Olympic medal winners Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, along with other international grapplers like Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat, were going to organise a women's Mahapanchayat as the new parliament building opens up.
All the protesters were detained and forcefully boarded in buses by Police. "They have been detained for violating law and order. We will take legal action after an inquiry in due course of time," said Dependra Pathak, Special CP, Law and Order.
The police officials were also seen clearing the protest site, where the wrestlers had resumed their agitation against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on April 23.
The agitating wrestlers, including likes of Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi and Asian Games gold winner Vinesh have been demanding the arrest of outgoing WFI President Brij Bhushan Singh who they have accused of sexually harassing several women grapplers.
The wrestlers had said that the use of force by police will not deter them from going ahead with their peaceful march and the Mahapanchayat.
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