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By India Today News Desk: India’s ace wrestler and two-time Olympian Vinesh Phogat, who is protesting with her colleagues against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh alleging that he sexually harassed seven female grapplers, broke down live on camera on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, Vinesh Phogat said some members of the group she is protesting with were roughed up by a Delhi Police personnel.
“The area is filled with water and there was no place to sleep, so we thought of bringing the cots. When we were bringing the cots, one police personnel, Dharmendra, started pushing us. There were no female personnel present,” Vinesh Phogat can be heard saying in the video.
“Brij Bhishan, who has been accused of sexual harassment, sleeps peacefully at his home. We were bringing cots. Itni izzat giraoge kya? (Will you disrespect us to this extent?) We are fighting for our respect. Did we win medals to see such days?,” an emotional Phogat said as her voice choked.
A ruckus broke out between the wrestlers staging a protest at Jantar Mantar, with protesting athletes alleging that police personnel attacked and abused them. In a video being circulated on social media, some of the protesters can be heard accusing a pole personnel of attacking two wrestlers under the influence of alcohol, news agency PTI reported.
The accused policeman is seen sitting in the video, while the protesters allege that his colleagues were mute spectators.
Delhi Police said they will closely examine the CCTV footage of the protest site and will investigate the allegations levelled by the wrestlers. The footage of each CCTV camera will be examined frame by frame, police said, adding that high-definition CCTV cameras have been installed at the protest site.
‘THE WAY THEY HAVE MADE US SUFFER’
The cop shoved and pushed us. The way they have made us suffer, I would not want any athlete to win a medal for the country,” wrestler Vinesh Phogat said.
“If you want to kill us, kill us,” Phogat said with tears in her eyes during a late night media interaction.
She also questioned the absence of women police officers at the spot. “I was abused and pushed around by policemen. Where are the women police personnel?” she asked.
Shocked and appalled by the misbehaviour meted out to the protesting wrestlers by the Delhi Police, an emotionally distraught Phogat said, “Where were the female police officers? How can the male officers push us like that? We are not criminals. We do not deserve such treatment. The police officer who was drunk hit my brother.”
The wrestlers, who have been staging a fresh sit-in Delhi, alleged that they were bringing folding beds as their mattresses got wet due to rain but the police did not allow that.
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Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Malviya Nagar Somnath Bharti was detained from the protest site. Delhi Police said that Bharti reached the area with folding beds without permission. On the other hand, wrestler Geeta Phogat has alleged that her sibling was injured in the brawl with the police.
Bajrang Punia’s wife Sangeeta also claimed that she was pushed around by policemen. Punia has called for farmers and their leaders to assemble at the protest site on Thursday morning.
“Delhi Police ki gundagardi ab nahi chalegi (Delhi Police’s high-handedness will not work anymore). We will call farmers to assemble here in numbers. We will not tolerate it anymore. Tractors or trolleys. whatever you get, just come here,” he said.
SECURITY BEEFED UP
The wrestlers have called for farmers and their leaders to assemble at the protest site on Thursday morning. In view of this, the Delhi Police deployed heavy security at Jantar Mantar, where a scuffle broke out between the protesting wrestlers and some police personnel. Some protesters suffered head injuries in the scuffle, PTI reported.
Multiple layers of barricades have been put up around the protest site and no one is being allowed in.
Police are also checking vehicles at city border points to stop a large gathering at Jantar Mantar, an official said who didn’t wish to be named.
Indian discus thrower Krishna Poonia will also take out a march at 10 am today in Jaipur in support of wrestlers’ agitation against WFI Chief Brajbhushan.
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WHY THE PROTEST AGAINST WFI CHIEF?
The protesters have been demanding criminal action against Brij Bhushan Singh, accused of sexual assault, including that of a minor wrestler. The wrestlers have been calling for Singh’s “immediate arrest” and also want him to resign from party posts.
The Delhi Police filed two FIRs against the WFI president on Friday on the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by the wrestlers.
Brij Bhushan Singh, who has denied all allegations, has claimed these protests were politically motivated and the accusations were false.
Singh has said that he has got proof to show that protests by wrestlers were part of a “conspiracy” hatched by Congress and wrestler Bajrang Punia. He said that his mere resignation was not what these protestors have been seeking.
(With PTI inputs)
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