Mahila Maha Panchayat: Wrestlers, farm leaders detained after scuffle with police. Top updates
Ahead of protesting wrestlers' march towards the new Parliament House, security has been beefed up across Delhi.
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. Wrestlers wanted to hold a women's Maha Panchayat in front of the new Parliament.
The agitating wrestlers, led by Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, have demanded the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Singh who, they alleged, sexually harassed several women grapplers.
Thousands of police personnel have been deployed at Delhi borders, Lutyens' Delhi and multiple layers of barricades were put in place in view as protesting wrestlers marched towards the new Parliament building.
On Saturday, protesting wrestlers said they have decided to hold a women's Maha Panchayat in front of the new Parliament building, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Top updates on wrestlers' Maha Panchayat in Delhi:
1. Delhi Police have put up barricades near ITO road, the Tikri border and the Singhu border area as Khap Panchayat leaders and farmers were planning to join the protesting wrestlers' march.
2. Farmers' groups were stopped in Haryana's Ambala from moving towards Delhi for the Mahila Mahapanchayat outside the new Parliament Building in New Delhi. Several farmers' leaders, including Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Gurnam Singh Charuni, were also detained in Haryana's Kurukshetra. The groups, mostly of women, had halted at Gurudwara Manji Sahib on NH-44 for an overnight stay when the place was turned into a fortress in the presence of a huge police force.
Khap leaders were detained from Rohtak, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind and other parts of the state. Binain khap leaders were detained from Narwana railway station in Jind.
3. Police closed the entry and exit gates of the gurudwara along with large trucks parked on the roads leading to the area. BKU factions such as Charuni and Shaheed Bhagat Singh have warned the government to allow the groups to move or face protests.
4. The police said no protester will be allowed to move towards the new Parliament building as permission has not been granted to hold the mahapanchayat.
5. Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh would gather at Delhi's Ghazipur border on Sunday and then enter the national capital to extend their support to the protesting wrestlers. Farmers would also enter Delhi from other border points.
6. Police have requested the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to grant necessary permission to create temporary jail in the MC Primary Girls School, Kanjawala Chowk, Old Bawana on Sunday, if required, so that law and order arrangement could be maintained.
Mayor Shelly Oberoi, however, refused permission to convert the MCD school into a temporary jail.
