NEW DELHI: A day after registering a case against the protesting wrestlers, the Delhi Police said yesterday that despite repeated requests, they allegedly broke the law in a frenzy. stopped. The sit-in of senior officers is going on smoothly so far, they said. The wrestlers have denied allegations that they rioted or were involved in violence.

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

Olympians and Commonwealth Games champions were caught red-handed by the Delhi Police during a protest rally to the new Parliament in the national capital yesterday. Shocked social media users across the country said it was funny that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the new Parliament building as a temple of democracy, just two km away from the encroachment of the central government-controlled Delhi Police. Top Women Athletes of India

कुश्ती पहलवानों का धरना और प्रदर्शन निर्बाध तरीक़े से जंतर मंतर की सूचित जगह पर चल रहा था।

कल, प्रदर्शकारियों ने तमाम आग्रह और अनुरोध के बावजूद कानून का उन्मादी रूप से उल्लंघन करा। अतः चल रहे धरने को समाप्त कर दिया गया है।

— DCP New Delhi (@DCPNewDelhi) May 29, 2023

The wrestlers have been accused of rioting, unlawful assembly and obstructing public servants from performing their duties. Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, all wrestlers who took part in the protest, have been named in the case.

“Everything is visible in the video. When a wrestler is stopped by 20-30 constables, how can we create any kind of riot? We tried to tell them please don’t take us. We want to do it. No one listened to us but they dragged us into the bus forcefully. So We got scratches. We didn’t riot, we didn’t damage public property, we didn’t pull or push the barricade. We have been carrying out our peaceful protest since day one, we requested them to release us, but we were not allowed to go,” Olympic medalist wrestler Sakshi Malik told a news agency. told ANI.

Videos from the scene showed the champions pushed, shoved, pinned to the ground and dragged into buses — sparking outrage across the country. Tension escalated as wrestlers led by Vinesh Phogat and his cousin Sangeeta Phogat tried to break the security barricades set up by the police.

Soon, the Delhi Police cleared the site of their month-long sit-in at Jantar Mantar and said they would not be allowed to return there.

Police said 700 people were arrested across the national capital. 109 protesters, including three wrestlers, were detained at Jantar Mantar. The arrested women were released in the evening.

The athletes had planned a women’s assembly near the new Parliament as part of their protest against BJP MP and president of the National Wrestling Federation, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who accused him of sexually harassing several women wrestlers, including a minor. They have demanded that he be removed from the post of president of the Wrestling Federation of India and that the police case against them be investigated quickly.

Outraged social media users shared a picture from Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s new Parliament inauguration event with wrestlers being dragged away by the police at the same time.

Wrestler Sakshi Malik criticized those behind the morphed photos of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat smiling in a vehicle after being pushed into a bus.

“You’ve seen how badly our pictures are edited on social media. People who do this have no shame. I can’t believe how God can create people like this. They’re trying to make us look like we’re having fun and laughing. I don’t think they have a heart. They are heartless people. It feels terrible how the IT cell is trying to defame us,” said Sakshi Malik.

Earlier this month, ace wrestlers alleged that a group of drunken Delhi Police personnel targeted them when they wanted to bring mattresses to sleep on a rainy day. The police beat them and abused the women wrestlers.

Several grapplers were hit in the head and two of them were injured. One person had to be taken to hospital.