Olympic wrestlers who ‘broke barricades’ at sexual harassment protest detained in India

Several of India’s top wrestlers were detained by police after protests against a federation chief intensified over sexual harassment allegations.

Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik are said to be among those police held today.

Protesting wrestlers in India originally demanded action against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, in January.

Mr Singh has denied allegations of sexually harassing several female athletes.

He is also a member of parliament for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party but was stripped of administrative powers following the initial protests.

However, the wrestlers resumed their protest on 23 April and have since been camping near the new parliament building demanding Singh’s resignation and arrest.

Local police say officers were forced to take action by some behaviour at the protest.

“They broke the barricades and didn’t follow police directions,” senior Delhi Police officer Dependra Pathak told local media.

“They broke the law, and that’s why they were detained.”

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Malik, who won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women’s 58kg freestyle, shared photos and videos of the wrestlers being dragged away by police.

“This is how our champions are being treated. The world is watching us,” she tweeted.

Punia is also an Olympic medallist, who won a bronze at Tokyo 2020.