Wrestlers’ protest: Security intensified, barricades put up at Tikri-Bahadurgarh border

Ravinder Saini

Jhajjar, May 4

The Delhi and Jhajjar police intensified surveillance by deploying a considerable number of personnel at the Tikri-Bahadurgarh border in view of the call given by protesting wrestlers for the mass presence of people at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi after a scuffle with the Delhi police at their dharna site on Wednesday.

The Delhi police put up barricades at the entrance to Delhi in Tikri and are conducting vehicle checking operations. Meanwhile, the Jhajjar police are keeping a tab on public movement at Tikri, Najafgarh and Badli borders of Delhi and Haryana. Several people were questioned about the purpose of their visit to Delhi, and some vehicles with black films pasted on their window panes were sent back.

Despite surveillance, some people managed to reach Jantar Mantar by taking alternative routes through villages of Jhajjar and Rohtak or metro trains, said sources. Dr Arpit Jain, Superintendent of Police, Jhajjar, confirmed that surveillance had been intensified at points leading to Delhi.

Surendra Singh Solanki, chief of Khap Palam 360, a leading khap of Delhi, accused the Delhi police of detaining many people, including khap leaders, coming from Haryana to Delhi at the Tikri, Singhu and Najafgarh borders. He demanded that they be released immediately so that they could reach Jantar Mantar.

“We all have been carrying out peaceful agitation, and every person has the constitutional right to join the protest,” said Solanki, adding that they would have to take a bigger step if their demand was not met.

Farmers, social outfits march in support

Scores of farmers, representatives of political parties and social organisations marched in support of the women wrestlers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against the WFI president Brij Bhushan Saran Singh.

They burnt an effigy of the WFI president and handed over a memorandum for the President of India to an official.

Former Congress MLA Sumita Singh demanded a fair probe into the case and called for the WFI chairman to be sacked from the post of the president. “The apathy of the Delhi police shows that the Union Government is shielding him,” she said.

Bhadur Singh Mehla, spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union, said justice should be ensured to the women wrestlers. He acknowledged that these women wrestlers have brought laurels for the country and the state by winning medals in international games.