“Delhi Police File Rioting Cases Against Prominent Wrestlers Detained in Protest

Police in India’s capital Delhi have filed cases including of rioting against the country’s top wrestlers after they were detained during a protest.

The protesters, including two Olympic medalists, were detained on Sunday as they tried to march to India’s new parliament as it was inaugurated.

They were released later in the night.

Police also cleared out their protest site in Delhi, but the wrestlers said they would return there.

The protesters include Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, who won Olympic bronze medals in 2016 and 2020, respectively. Two-time World Championship medalist Vinesh Phogat and her sister Sangeeta were also among the wrestlers who were detained.

Vinesh Phogat and Ms Malik were released from detention in the evening while Mr Punia was let out late in the night. It’s not clear if all the protesters have been released yet.

The wrestlers began protesting on 23 April, demanding the arrest of their federation chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, for allegedly sexually harassing female athletes.

Mr Singh, an influential lawmaker and politician from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has denied the allegations and accused the wrestlers of being “politically motivated”.

On Sunday, a scuffle broke out between the wrestlers and the police while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was formally opening the country’s new parliament building.

The protesters planned to demonstrate outside the building, which is just a few kilometres away from Jantar Mantar, where they had been sitting for more than a month.

But police said that the protesters did not follow their directions and that they detained those who tried to break security barricades.

Footage showed protesters climbing over barricades and being carried away by the authorities.

“They broke the law,” Dependra Pathak, Delhi’s Special Commissioner of Police, told local media.

However, Ms Malik claimed that they had been “walking quietly” and that the police “dragged and forcibly detained” protesters without telling them where they were being taken.

“The whole world is watching how the government is treating its players,” Vinesh Phogat tweeted.

On Sunday evening, police filed cases against Ms Malik, Punia, the Phogat sisters and “other organizers of the protest”. They have been accused of rioting, assembling unlawfully and of obstructing public servants from doing their duty.

Visuals of the athletes being dragged and carried off in buses went viral, sparking criticism from some top athletes and opposition politicians.

“This makes me sad. There has to be a better way to deal with this”, Olympic medalist Neeraj Chopra tweeted in reaction to a video which showed police pulling the Phogat sisters as they sat on the road.

“Why does it have to come down to our wrestlers being dragged around without any consideration? This isn’t the way to treat anyone. I really hope this whole situation is assessed the way it should be,” said Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri.

Several opposition leaders, including Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, criticized the police’s actions.