Protesting Wrestlers Say They Were Manhandled, Abused by Policemen at Jantar Mantar

The incident reportedly occurred when the wrestlers attempted to bring plank beds to the protest site.

New Delhi: Wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar have alleged that they manhandled and abused by drunk policemen from the Delhi Police on Wednesday night. The incident reportedly occurred when the wrestlers attempted to bring plank beds to the protest site.

The decision to bring in the beds was because of the intense unseasonal rain seen in Delhi over the last few days. “You can come inside and see,” wrestler Vinesh Phogat said at a late night press conference after the tensions had subsided. “Water has filled everywhere, there’s no place to sleep.”

When they brought the planks and foldable beds, a lone drunk male policeman, “Dharmendra”, started pushing the wrestlers around, she continued, without any female policeman present.

“After all that he has done, Brij Bhushan [Sharan Singh] is happily sleeping in his bed at home. For us, even a wooden plank is seen as too much luxury,” Vinesh said, breaking down. “Is this how little respect we get? Here we’re fighting for our dignity, and you will push us around like this? If I have won so many medals to see days like this, I hope no Indian athlete has to win medals again.”

Olympian and Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Geeta Phogat has said that her younger brother Dushyant Phogat’s head “was cracked open” in the scuffle with the police.

One person at the protest site reportedly fell unconscious and had to be taken to hospital.

Wrestler Bajrang Punia too said that he would like government to take back all his medals, if this is all they were worth. Later, in a video message, Punia said he, Vinesh and Sakshi Malik (who have been at the forefront of the protest) were fine. He asked all their well-wishers to be polite with the police, who was threatening to detain anyone who was coming to the protest site. “The police have said nobody can come here at night, they will detain everyone. They are trying to move away from the issue, we won’t do that,” Punia said.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti and two others were detained. Police alleged that Bharti had brought folding beds to the protest site “without permission”, NDTV reported.

“On being asked about the beds, his supporters became aggressive and tried to get the beds from a truck. Subsequently, a minor altercation took place following which Bharti, along with two others, was detained,” the police said.

AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj tagged L-G V.K. Saxena in a tweet, asking him to take note of the incident. “Please note Lt Governor Delhi. A Delhi Police officer attacked a wrestler at Jantar Mantar. It is alleged that the policeman was drunk. A medical test should be conducted and MLC of the victim should also be registered,” he said.

NDTV reported that the police have now sealed the protest site at Jantar Mantar, thereby stopping the regular flow of well-wishers who were coming to meet the protesting wrestlers.

The protesting wrestlers have alleged that the Delhi Police is dragging its feet on the case as neither Singh nor the women who complained of sexual harassment have been called in for questioning.

Singh, meanwhile, recently declared that all the complainants against him – there were seven women who approached the Delhi Police – have been “paid”. The protesting wrestlers, according to him, were those who were at “Shaheen Bagh and the farmers’ protest”.

Despite the unseasonal rains in New Delhi, the wrestlers have remained at the protest site in Jantar Mantar, where they refused police security. They have also decided to foreground the allegations of sexual harassment to ensure the safety of women wrestlers, they said, even though there are several allegations of financial irregularities, verbal abuse etc. against Singh as well. The wrestlers have said they will continue their protest until they can be certain that the authorities are serious about acting against Singh.

As The Wire has reported, Singh has a long history of being on the wrong side of the law but perhaps getting by anyway because of his political clout. He has himself claimed that he has committed murder.

The Supreme Court is supposed to hear the wrestlers’ petition against Singh on Thursday.