India's 1983 cricket heroes counsel wrestlers against throwing medals in Ganga
The remarks from the World Cup-winning team came after the aggrieved wrestlers had planned to throw away their medals into the country's sacred Ganga River.
Members of India's 1983 cricket World Cup-winning team on Friday expressed disapproval of the treatment of wrestlers who have accused Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh of sexual assault and intimidation. In a statement released to news agency PTI, they also advised the wrestlers against impulsive decisions - a reference to their wanting to throw medals won at prestigious international competitions - into the Ganga. The cricketers expressed hope that the wrestlers' complaints will be acknowledged and resolved.
Also read | World Olympic body terms treatment of protesting wrestlers ‘very disturbing’, calls for unbiased probe
What did the cricketers say?
"We are distressed and disturbed at unseemly visuals of our champion wrestlers being manhandled. We are also most concerned that they are thinking of dumping their hard-earned medals into river Ganga," the cricketers' statement said.
"Those medals involve years of effort, sacrifice, determination and grit... and are not only their own but the nation's pride and joy. We urge them not to take any hasty decision in this matter and also fervently hope their grievances are heard and resolved quickly."
"Let the law of the land prevail," the cricketers wrote.
Wrestlers' plan to throw medals in Ganga
The statement comes days after the wrestlers - who have been led by national heroes like Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik - said they would throw their medals into the Ganga to draw attention to the government's failure to act against Brij Bhushan - a Member of Parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who remains chief of the national wrestling body.
The wrestlers planned to toss their medals into the Ganga on Tuesday and then hold an indefinite fast at Delhi's India Gate; the former plan was suspended after intervention by farmer leader Naresh Tikait and the latter was foiled by cops who barricaded the monument.
Tikait asked for and was given a five-day stay of execution of the wrestlers' plan, which they announced with great sorrow; "These medals are our life and soul... going to throw them in the Ganga. After that... no point of living, so we will sit on hunger strike till death..."
Wrestlers manhandled
The cricketers' reference to wrestlers being 'manhandled' was to shocking scenes last week when police and the protesters clashed as the latter were detained during a march on the new Parliament building on the day of its inauguration. Visuals of the athletes being shoved and dragged away were widely shared online and invited fierce criticism of the police. (Read: Neeraj Chopra strongly reacts to viral video of clash between wrestlers, Delhi Police: 'Hurts me to see this')
What are the wrestlers' charges?
Delhi Police has filed two FIRs (first information reports) - months after the wrestlers' protest began and nearly a week after the Supreme Court intervened - against Brij Bhushan Singh.
The WFI chief has been accused of sexual assault by female wrestlers, including a minor.
He has denied all accusations and insisted they are part of a political conspiracy. And, in dramatic fashion, this week declared he would hang himself if the charges were proven
Read | ‘POCSO Act misused…will force govt to change it’: WFI chief Brij Bhushan
The wrestlers have repeatedly demanded Brij Bhushan be arrested but the BJP MP remains a free man. Earlier on Friday it emerged that he had been denied permission to hold a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya on Monday - because of other events scheduled the same day.