Jantar Mantar scuffle: DCW chief Swati Maliwal meets wrestlers

Delhi Commission For Women chief Swati Maliwal on Thursday met wrestlers protesting at Jantar Mantar here, hours after a scuffle broke out at the spot between the grapplers and police leading to a couple of protesters getting injured.

Before the meeting, Maliwal had alleged that she was not being allowed to meet the wrestlers.

In a video shared by her on Twitter, she could be seen telling policemen that she holds a constitutional post and wanted to meet the protesters.

In response to her tweet, DCP, New Delhi, tweeted, “Honble Chairperson DCW was stopped at the barricade by an officer and let go immediately. She is presently inside at the protest site. There is no restriction on individual entry to Jantar Mantar.”

Maliwal later tweeted in Hindi: “I am sitting with wrestlers who are protesting at Jantar Mantar. They are telling me that last night some police personnel, who were inebriated, misbehaved with them and attacked them. After writing down the complaints, Delhi Commission For Women will act on them.”

The wrestlers have levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh.

The wrestlers have alleged that they were beaten up by some policemen Wednesday night.

According to them, two wrestlers Rahul Yadav and Dushyant Phogat were injured in the fight. Vinesh Phogat, an award winning wrestler, too received head injuries.

On Wednesday night, police had detained Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda and Swati Maliwal when they had gone to the spot to support the wrestlers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)