Several of India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, were detained by police on Sunday as they intensified their protest demanding the arrest of their federation chief over sexual harassment allegations.
The wrestlers originally hit the street in January demanding action again Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has denied allegations of sexually harassing several female athletes.
The protest was withdrawn after Singh, also a member of parliament from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was stripped of all administrative powers by the sports ministry. The wrestlers resumed their protest on April 23 demanding Singh’s arrest and have since been camping near the new parliament building which Modi inaugurated on Sunday.—Agencies
