Protesting wrestlers will not be allowed to protest at India Gate as the national monument is not a site for demonstrations, news agency PTI reported on Tuesday citing Delhi Police sources. The police will suggest alternative places for their dharna, the report said two days after cops removed the wrestlers from Jantar Mantar after they tried to march towards Parliament on Sunday.
"India Gate is not a protest site and we will not allow them (wrestlers) to protest there," a police official told PTI. "They have not approached us till now with any such request. If they want to protest, they will have to submit a written communication to the DCP concerned, following which a call will be taken accordingly," the official said.
Earlier today, the wrestlers said they will immerse their hard-earned medals and sit on a hunger strike "until death" at the India Gate. "These medals are our life and soul. We are going to immerse them in the Ganges because she is Maa Ganga. After that, there is no point of living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate," Sakshi, bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said in a statement on Twitter.
However, the Delhi Police have now said they won't allow any protests there. The cops said they will suggest alternative sites that are designated for protests such as Ramleela Ground and Burari. The police have now also made it clear that wrestlers won't be allowed to protest at Jantar Mantar. The wrestlers had been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23 but they were removed after they tried to march towards Parliament on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to launch the new Parliament House.
In a tweet, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) on Monday said that the demonstration by the wrestlers was going on smoothly at the notified place of Jantar Mantar. "On Sunday, the protestors flouted the law, ignoring our repeated requests. Hence, we cleared the site and ended the dharna," the DCP said. "If the wrestlers will apply for permission to stage their sit-in again in the future, they will be allowed to do so at any suitable notified place other than Jantar Mantar."
On Sunday, wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia along with other protesters were booked for rioting and obstructing public servants in discharge of duty after a scuffle with security personnel who tried to stop them from marching to the new Parliament building. Soon after, the cops cleared the site of their over-month-long sit-in at Jantar Mantar.
Delhi Police PRO Suman Nalwa said the police force had been cooperating with the protesters but Sunday's incident forced them to take an extreme step and clear the protest site. She said the wrestlers had been protesting for the last 38 days and the cops were cooperating with them. "We were supplying them water and even generator sets. They also had free entry and exit," she said.
The officer further said the wrestlers had sought permission to organising a march on May 17 and that they also took out a candle march on May 23 but "what they did yesterday (Sunday) was against law and order". "The protesters were told that they won't be allowed for a march as the new Parliament inauguration was slated on Sunday. They still went ahead with the demonstration and broke the first barricade and moved to the second and even tried breaking it. They were then detained," Nalwa said.
(With inputs from PTI)