Wrestlers' protest: Police clear makeshift tents at Jantar Mantar, ace grapplers detained
New Delhi, May 28: Ace wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Mallik, and Bajrang Punia were among those detained by Delhi Police on Sunday as they attempted to march to the new Parliament building to stage a protest.
According to reports, Delhi police have "removed" the makeshift tents placed by the protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar.
Wrestlers announced plans to stage a women's Maha Panchayat in front of the new Parliament to protest Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan, who has been accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers. A police report has been lodged against him by seven women wrestlers.
"We are not being allowed to enter and our people are being detained. He (Brij Bhushan) is sitting in parliament and we are being sent to jail," said Vinesh Phogat who also took to Twitter to post about the "murder of democracy."
"On one hand the Prime Minister has inaugurated the new building of democracy. On the other hand, the arrests of our people are on, " Phogat said.
Earlier, DCP Sonipat East Gaurav Rajpurohit stated that "unsocial elements" will not be permitted to enter the national capital to ensure the smooth operation of the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building.
"We have deployed male and female companies at Delhi-Haryana border points to ensure unsocial elements are stopped from entering Delhi. Sonipat East Zone Police has not detained anyone so far. We will not allow people to enter Delhi if their motive is to disrupt the inauguration of the new Parliament House, our intelligence team is identifying such people," the DCP said.
- ANI
