AAP leaders condemn ‘forceful detention, mistreatment’ of wrestlers by Delhi police

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Mayor Shelly Oberoi denied permission to Delhi police for turning a corporation school complex in North West Delhi into a temporary prison complex

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal slammed the forceful detention and mistreatment of the wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantra and said that “such treatment of players who have brought laurels to the country is wrong and condemnable”.

Security personnel detain wrestler Bajrang Punia during wrestlers’ protest march towards new Parliament building (Twitter/@SwatiJaiHind)

With the Delhi police detaining the protesting wrestlers and farmers who were attempting to march towards the new parliament building on Sunday afternoon, the senior AAP functionaries and cabinet ministers came out in support of the wrestlers and condemn the action by police and security personnel.

Delhi police and security personnel stopped and detained protesting wrestlers as they tried to march towards the new Parliament building from their site of protest at Jantar Mantar on Sunday to hold a women’s ‘Maha Panchayat’ in front of the new Parliament.

The police also beefed up the security at Jantar Mantar.

Delhi education minister and MLA from Kalkaji 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.

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 police have also put up barricades near ITO road, the Tikri border and the Singhu border area to stop Khap Panchayat leaders and farmers join the wrestlers’ march.

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.

“In this intoxication of power of country’s leaders are unable to hear the cries of our daughters,” Rai wrote on Twitter.

Top wrestlers, including Sakhi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia on Sunday hit out at the Delhi police for detaining them while attempting to carry out a planned march towards the new Parliament building, saying that the “world is watching” them.

Malik shared a video of the police detaining her fellow wrestlers and said that “This is how our champions are being treated”. Earlier in the day, Vinesh Phogat shared a video message on Twitter saying, “Democracy is being murdered. On one hand, the PM has inaugurated the new building of democracy, while on the other hand, our people are being detained.”

Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal also took to Twitter to express displeasure and criticised 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.

AAP has been supporting the protest of the wrestlers over the last one month. On April 29, CM Kejriwal and senior AAP functionaries met the protesting wrestlers to express solidarity with their cause.

On May 4, AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar VC Somnath Bharti was also detained when he and AAP supporters attempted to bring cots for the protesters after the overnight spells of rains.

Earlier in the morning, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi issued a letter denying permission to Delhi police for turning an MCD primary school complex in Kanjhawala into a temporary prison to keep the farmers and protesters after the Delhi police sought permission to convert the MCD school at Kanjhawala into a temporary jail in view of the wrestlers’ ‘Mahila Maha Panchayat’.

The letter issued by Oberoi to the commissioner and additional commissioner education and deputy commissioner Narela zone states: “It has been brought to my notice that a letter has been sent by Delhi Police to MCD deputy commissioner (North) on May 28 asking to create a temporary jail in MCD primary girls school, Kanjhawala chowk on May 28. It is hereby directed that no such permission will be granted.”

“AAP is standing for justice with the wrestlers. The wrestlers are pride of the nation and they are fighting for justice under tough circumstances. MCD schools are temple of education. They have been neglected in the past. They will only be used for educating children,” said the mayor.

The agitating wrestlers led by Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik resumed the protests against 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.

No immediate reaction to the development was made by the BJP.