Top Indian Wrestlers Dragged and Arrested For Protesting
Some of the top wrestlers in India marching towards the new parliament building were dragged and arrested by the police.
Some of the top wrestlers in India, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Vinesh Phogat, have been protesting for more than a month at Jantar Mantar demanding Wrestling Federation India (WFI) Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s immediate arrest. The wrestlers have accused Singh of sexually assaulting seven female wrestlers during his tenure, including one minor. ISH News had already released a video about it. You can have a look at it here. ISH News Link: https://youtu.be/JKSM8BO2plk
Now in an update, the wrestlers had given a 15-day deadline for Singh's arrest. The deadline ended on 21st May 2023. The wrestlers' then planned the peaceful march and had planned a Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat at the complex, coinciding with the inauguration of the new Parliament building by PM Narendra Modi on 28th May 2023. The cops beefed up the security, deploying additional personnel and barricades. However, the wrestlers along with India’s top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, who had tried to march to the new Parliament building on 28th May 2023, were first detained and later had FIRs filed against them for violation of law and order by the Delhi Police. According to the police, the wrestlers did not have permission to move towards the new Parliament building, hours after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When they were stopped by police, an ugly scuffle broke out. They broke the barricades and didn’t follow police directions. The visuals of the Indian wrestlers struggling and trying to defy their unwarranted arrest were all over the internet. In one of the videos, a few female police officers can be seen forcefully dragging a woman away from the protest site. Also a photoshopped image of Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers went viral in which they were seen smiling and happy after arrest. However, wrestler Bajrang Punia posted the original photo and said that the smiling photo was a morphed picture. The women protesters, including Phogat and Malik, were released around 7.20 p.m.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh urged the agitating wrestlers not to protest near the new Parliament building, "The country is getting a new Parliament building, and it is a matter of pride. I urge these wrestlers that I am ready, ready for the narco test, ready for everything. The wrestlers are now accusing the central government, led by PM Modi, of siding with their party’s MP and not investigating the charges against him with due diligence.
