Picture Credit: Twitter

Picture Credit: Twitter

Neeraj Chopra, the Olympic champion in javelin throw, has reacted to the Delhi Police’s action against the protesting wrestlers, who were taking part in the ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’ at the Jantar Mantar. The police got involved after wrestlers jumped the barricades to begin their march towards the new parliament in the nation’s capital. Sakshi Mailk, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia were involved in the skirmish with Delhi Police which saw them all getting detained.

In New Delhi, Section 144 was in effect during the inauguration of the new parliament, which prompted police to stop the wrestler’s march, which began from the Jantar Mantar Road. Coincidentally, the top Indian wrestlers were detained by the Delhi Police near the residence of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the President of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), who has two FIRs registered against him for alleged sexual harassment of women’s wrestlers.

Sakshi Malik shared a video tweet of the clash between police and protesting wrestlers with a telling caption, which read, “This is how our champions are being treated. The world is watching us! #WrestlersProtest” Since then, her tweet has gone viral on social media with tons of support coming in for the protesting wrestlers from fans and athletes.

Notably, Neeraj Chopra took to Twitter to react to the police action on the protesting wrestlers by quoting the tweet of Sakshi Malik. His tweet read, “यह देखकर मुझे बहुत दुख हो रहा है | (It hurts me to see this) There has to be a better way to deal with this.”

Meanwhile, Dependra Pathak, the Special CP, Law and Order, Delhi Police was quoted as saying to the media about the clash with protesting wrestlers, “The police officials dragged and lifted them into buses along with several other wrestlers and their supporters.” He also remarked, “They have been detained for violating law and order. We will take legal action after inquiry in due course of time.”