New Delhi: A scuffle broke out between wrestlers protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh and Delhi Police personnel late Wednesday, with the demonstrators alleging that the policemen attacked them after an argument over occupying vacant spots at the protest site.
In a video being widely shared on social media platforms, some of the protesters could be heard accusing a police personnel of attacking two wrestlers under the influence of alcohol.
A policeman could be seen sitting on the ground in the video, even as the protesters alleged that his colleagues watched on as the protesters were attacked.
“The mattresses got wet due to rain so we were bringing folding beds for sleeping, but the police did not allow that. Drunk policeman Dharemendra abused Vinesh Phogat and got involved in a scuffle with us,” former wrestler Rajveer said.
“They started hitting us. Bajrang Punia’s brother-in-law Dushyant suffered head injuries. The police did not even let doctors reach the site. Even the women constables were misbehaving with us,” he added.
Responding to the allegations, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal said: “During the protest at Jantar Mantar, Mr Somnath Bharti came to the protest site along with folding beds without permission. On intervention, the supporters became aggressive in trying to get the beds out of the truck. Subsequently, a minor altercation took place in which Mr Somnath Bharti along with two others were detained.”
While Vinesh Phogat alleged that she was abused and pushed around by policemen, there was no specific response to the charges by the Delhi Police.
Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia have been leading a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since last Sunday.
This is the second time this year that the wrestlers have gone on protest against Singh. The first protest was in January and ended only when the Sports Authority of India (SAI), and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) stepped in to look into the allegations against Singh. The sports ministry constituted an oversight committee (OC) to probe the matter and also manage the day-to-day functioning of the WFI.
After the formation of the OC, Singh was asked to “step aside”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party MP has denied the allegations against him and claimed them to be politically motivated. He had accused the protesters of being pawns of the Congress.
The OC was supposed to complete its probe within four weeks, but took almost three months to submit its report to the sports ministry. Sources told ThePrint that the report was submitted around the first week of April. There’s been no intimation from the ministry as to when the findings will be made public.
With inputs from PTI
(Edited by Nisheeth Upadhyay)