Bajrang, Sakshi, Vinesh to throw their medals in Ganga, begin fast unto death
Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik announced that they will throw their Olympic, World Championship and other medals into the Ganga river in Haridwar on Tuesday evening and go on a fast unto death at the India Gate. The wrestlers shared a note on their social media that they are taking this step after the incidents on Sunday.
Their statement read, “Our Prime Minster, who called us his daughters? Our minds didn’t agree, because he didn’t consider his daughters’ senses and wisdom, and instead invited our harasser to the inauguration of the new parliament building. He was taking pictures there in shiny new clothes. Where is our place in this shiny system? Where is the place for India’s daughters? Have we just become tools for slogans and agendas? We don’t want these medals anymore because we’re made to wear these as a mask for their politics and we’re exploited. When we speak against that exploitation, they make preparations to put us in jail. We will throw the medals in the Ganga, because she is Mother Ganga. We consider the Ganga as sacred as the hard work we put in to win these medals. These medals are sacred to the entire nation, and to keep them sacred, the best place is Mother Ganga, and not the system, which makes us their mask and makes us stand with our harasser.’ .
On May 28, they were forcefully arrested and detained by the Delhi Police. The wrestlers had called for a ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat‘ around the same time as the inauguration of the new Parliament Building on Sunday and breached the security cordon set up by the police, which resulted in their detention.
Special Commissioner of Police (law and order) Dependra Pathak claimed the protesters ignored repeated requests and warnings and “wrestled” with police personnel who tried to stop them. The police then filed an FIR against the wrestlers and others who participated in the protest under section 188, section 186, section 353, section 332, section 352, section 147 and section 149 of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
– Bajrang Punia ���� (@BajrangPunia) May 30, 2023
India’s top-most wrestlers have been protesting at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for over four weeks against former Wrestling Federation of India chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The wrestlers have been demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan, who has been accused of sexual harassment of seven women athletes, including a minor.
The Delhi Police have filed two FIRs — one related to the complaints of a minor wrestler under the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act — against Brij Bhushan, and the investigation is still on.