Protesting Indian wrestlers become emotional after midnight scuffle with cops: 'Did we win medals to see this day?'

Top Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who has won gold medals in top tournaments such as Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, on Wednesday (3) evening broke down on live camera after some members of the group she is protesting with against the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) were allegedly manhandled by personnel of the Delhi Police.

In tears, she told NDTV, "Did we win medals to see this day?"

A scuffle broke out between the local police and the wrestlers on Wednesday night at the Jantar Mantar area where the sportspersons have been staging a sit-in protest demanding stern action against the chief of the country's wrestlers' body. The wrestlers said the police personnel misbehaved with them and abused the women sportspersons. Two protesters reportedly received head injuries.

The wrestlers have accused WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing seven of their women colleagues, including a minor, and demanded strict action against him. Singh is a parliamentarian of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party from Kaiserganj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Singh has denied all allegations against him and said he would resign if prime minister Narendra Modi or the party asked him to.

The protesters alleged a police officer attacked two wrestlers in an inebriated state while his colleagues stood as mute spectators. "That cop was pushing and shoving everyone," Phogat was quoted as saying by NDTV.

She also said that they were not criminals and questioned the absence of women police officers on the spot.

"I was abused and pushed around by policemen. Where are the women police personnel?" she asked.

Bajrang Punia, who won a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, was also emotional and speaking to NDTV, he urged the government to take all his medals back.

The protesting wrestlers, who have been staging a sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi since April 23, alleged that they were bringing folded beds since their mattresses got wet due to rain but the police did not give permission.

Three persons, including Somnath Bharti, a member of the Delhi legislative assembly from the Aam Aadmi Party, were also detained after the incident, police said, adding Bharti arrived at the site with folding beds without permission, the NDTV report added.

The Delhi Police has filed two first information reports against Singh, one of them under the stringent POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) on the basis of a complaint of the minor.

Swati Maliwal, chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, reached Jantar Mantar to meet the wrestlers hours after the scuffle took place. Talking to reporters, she said she came to meet the wrestlers since it was duty. She also said that Phogat and Sakshi Malik told them that they were tortured and that there were police officers who were drunk and misbehaved with them. She expressed concerns over the wrestlers' safety and asked why Singh was not being arrested.

Earlier on Wednesday, PT Usha, president of Indian Olympic Association, met the wrestlers and said that her remark made against them a few days ago was misinterpreted.

(With agency inputs)