A day after chaos at Jantar Mantar, where the wrestlers protested demanding the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan, Delhi Police has denied permission for the wrestlers to continue their protest at the site.
The protesting site was cleared by the police on Sunday after the protesters took out 'mahila mahapanchayat' march towards the new Parliament building during its inaguration. Wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik was detained when they tried to breach the barricades.
After clearing the site, Delhi Police on Monday said that wrestlers will not be allowed to protest at Jantar Mantar.
“The demonstration by the wrestlers was going on smoothly at the notified place of Jantar Mantar. On Sunday, the protestors flouted the law, ignoring our repeated requests. Hence, we cleared the site and ended the dharna,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) tweeted in Hindi.
“If the wrestlers will apply for permission to stage their sit-in again in the future, they will be allowed to do so at any suitable notified place other than Jantar Mantar,” it said.
Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia were booked for rioting and obstructing public servant during duty on Sunday.
Around 700 including leaders of the farmers groups, who joined the wrestlers protest, were detained across the national capital.
However, the wrestlers had said that they will restart the satyagraha.
Wrestler Sakshi Malik said that they wanted to peacefully conduct the protest march but they did not allow.
“Now, there will be satyagraha of women wrestlers...not dictatorship,” tweeted Malik.
"The situation yesterday was bad. We wanted to march peacefully but they didn't let us do that. There was barricading right from Jantar Mantar. They started pushing us back and detained us...They dragged us to buses. We didn't riot, we didn't damage any public property,” Malik told ANI.
On being asked about the morphed pictures of the wrestlers smiling inside the bus, Malik said that those who are doing this have no shame at all. “Pasting smiles on the faces of girls who are disturbed...I don't think they even have a heart. They are trying to defame us,” she said.
