AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday condemned the police detention of wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar, calling their act “grossly wrong.”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been supporting the protest of the wrestlers over the last one month.
Delhi education minister Atishi also said that the daughters who have brought medals for the country and who are raising their voices for their rights are being dragged by police on the streets. “Not only our country but the whole world is witnessing this atrocity,” she wrote on Twitter in Hindi.
Delhi health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the detentions. “This is the truth of the BJP. The accused is openly roaming around while the female players seeking justice are being picked by the police. Central government is wrong. Over the last nine years, everyone including college students, workers, retired ex-servicemen, farmers, and opposition have been silenced using these sticks,” Bharadwaj said.
Earlier, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberai has refused to grant permission to the Delhi Police to convert a MCD school in Kanjhawala into a temporarily jail on Sunday.
Kejriwal retweeted a video shared by Malik that showed wrestlers being dragged by police to a detention van after a lengthy scuffle. “Such treatment to the sportsperson who brought laurels to the country is grossly wrong and condemnable,” he wrote. Kejriwal had earlier last month met protesting wrestlers at Jantar Mantar and extended his support.
Jantar Mantar turned into a scene of chaos when Vinesh Phogat and her cousin Sangeeta Phogat tried to breach the barricades and as police tried to contain the breach with a lot of shoving and pushing. Immediately after the wrestlers were pushed into buses and taken to an unknown location, police began clearing the protest site by removing cots, mattresses, cooler fans, the tarpaulin ceiling, and other belongings of the wrestlers.
Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal also took to Twitter to express displeasure and criticised the the Delhi Police and security personnel for rough treatment of Olympian medallists of India.
“All these sportspersons have made our country proud on several occasions. They don’t deserve this treatment. They should be immediately released!,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Through this letter, I wish to inform you that the Delhi Commission for Women is deeply pained to note that Delhi Police has manhandled female wrestlers and their families protesting peacefully at Jantar Mantar and forcefully detained them today,” said Maliwal in the letter to Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora.
Several videos went viral on social media platforms showing wrestlers being pushed and dragged as the police cleared the protest site at Jantar Mantar by removing cots, mattresses, coolers, fans and the tarpaulin ceiling along with other belongings of the wrestlers.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said that the ill-treatment met to the daughters of the country by the central government is a sad development.
