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Wrestlers Protest: ‘Both Acted In Sports Films’: NCP Slams Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar For Silence


New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Clyde Crasto on Monday hit out at Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar for being silent on the protesting wrestlers despite both having acted in sports films. Delhi Police detained ace grapplers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia for violation of law and order after they breached the security cordon while trying to move towards the new Parliament building for a planned women’s ‘Mahapanchayat’ on Sunday.

“Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar tweeted and spoke about the inauguration of the new Parliament building. Both acted in films based on sports and earned fame and fortune. What is stopping them from tweeting and showing support to our wrestlers who are fighting for justice? What or who are they afraid of?” Clyde Crasto asked.

He also slammed Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani and asked if it is not her ‘duty’ to protect them.

“Ms Smriti Irani, these are our women wrestlers and see how they are being manhandled. You are India’s woman and child development minister, is it not your duty to protect them and solve their problems. Why do we hear and see you speak only on issues concerning Rahul Gandhi,” he said.

India’s top wrestlers resumed their agitation against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on April 23, demanding his arrest for alleged sexual harassment of several women grapplers, including a minor. 

As part of their fight against Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, the protesting wrestlers had announced a women’s Mahapanchayat near the new Parliament building on Sunday, the day of its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

‘Painful’: Sharad Pawar after Delhi Police detains protesting wrestlers

NCP president Sharad Pawar also called the Delhi Police’s action against protesting wrestlers as ‘painful’.

‘I strongly condemn the reckless behaviour of Delhi Police towards our athletes who are the pride of our nation. Our democratic values and ethos has been ashamed today with this act of brutality,’ Pawar tweeted.

Pawar, notably, is the president of the Maharashtra Amateur Wrestling Association, which is affiliated with the Wrestling Federation of India.

Wrestlers booked after scuffle as cops thwart protest near new Parliament building

Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia along with other protesters were booked for rioting and obstructing public servant in discharge of duty on Sunday after a scuffle with security personnel who tried to stop them from marching to the new Parliament building as it was being inaugurated. 

“The FIR has been registered at Parliament Street police station under New Delhi district against the organisers of the protest, including wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, and others who were part of the scuffle that took place at Jantar Mantar today with the police,” a senior police officer said.

The FIR has been registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the officer said.

Sections 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC and Section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act have also been invoked, he said.

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

The police said that 700 people were detained across the national capital and as many as 109 protesters, including the three wrestlers, were detained at Jantar Mantar. Women detainees were released later in the evening.

Elaborate security measures had been made after the wrestlers’ call for a women’s ‘Mahapanchayat’ outside the Parliament for which they did not have permission.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at the dharna site at Jantar Mantar, barely three kilometres from the new Parliament building that was inaugurated by the prime minister, as protesters and police personnel shoved and pushed each other when the Phogat sisters, Sakshi Malik and others tried to breach the barricades.

Immediately after the wrestlers and other protesters were pushed into buses and taken to different locations, the police personnel began clearing the protest site by removing cots, mattresses, coolers, fans and the tarpaulin ceiling along with other belongings of the wrestlers.

Delhi Police calls wrestlers’ behaviour ‘highly irresponsible’

Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dependra Pathak claimed the protesters ignored repeated requests and warnings and ‘wrestled’ with police personnel who tried to stop them.

“Today (Sunday) was an important day for the country as the new Parliament building was to be inaugurated and despite warnings and repeatedly urging protesters at Jantar Mantar to not march beyond the protest site, they continued to do so,” he said, adding the behaviour of the wrestlers was ‘highly irresponsible’.

They were out to disturb the preparations made by the security agencies, the senior police officer told the news agency PTI.

“The detained protesting wrestlers will not be allowed to continue with their dharna at Jantar Mantar. The entire protest venue at Jantar Mantar has been cleared,” Pathak added.

Security was heightened near the new Parliament building, at Jantar Mantar as well as at Delhi’s borders with neighbouring states, and many farmer groups who were planning to join the wrestlers’ protest were stopped from entering the national capital. Several farmer leaders in Haryana were also detained for a few hours, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) claimed.

A group led by BKU leader Rakesh Tikait held a sit-in at the Ghazipur border which was closed as they tried to enter the national capital to take part in a protest called by the agitating wrestlers. The protesters later dispersed.

‘Our movement is not over’: Wrestlers to continue protest against WFI chief

After the scuffle, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik vowed to continue their sit-in at Jantar Mantar.

“Our movement is not over… We will start our satyagraha at Jantar Mantar. In this country, there will be no dictatorship but there will be satyagraha held by women wrestlers,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Vinesh Phogat also said while it took the Delhi Police seven days to register an FIR against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, it didn’t even take seven hours to book those who were protesting ‘peacefully’.

The top Indian wrestlers resumed their agitation against Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh on April 23 demanding his arrest for alleged sexual harassment of several women grapplers, including a minor.





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