Wrestlers pin their hope on Khap Mahapanchayat

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat stresses on the need for peaceful demonstration while speaking to the press. Pic/PTI

The protesting wrestlers are hoping that the Khap Mahapanchayat scheduled at Jantar Mantar on Sunday will be of huge success and will help in getting more support for them in their fight against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Top wrestlers of the country, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, are protesting for the last two weeks at the Jantar Mantar, demanding the sacking of Brij Bhushan as WFI chief and his arrest because of the alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers.

"Today is the 14th day of our sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar. The fact is you guys (supporters) are here and we are here too. We would like to thank all who are sitting with us here and supporting us. We would like to thank the entire country for standing with us in this fight for justice," said Vinesh on Saturday. "We hope we will achieve success in this fight so that truth prevails." Vinesh urged the supporters to be peaceful on Sunday so that bad elements do not hijack the protest.

"Tomorrow, a lot of people are expected to join us from villages... khap panchayats, kisan and mazdoor unions, student organisations to support us. We appeal to everyone to be peaceful. Our success depends on a peaceful demonstration. We also request all who come tomorrow to cooperate with authorities and police," said the Asian Games gold medallist."We also request the police not to stop our supporters tomorrow."

Also Read: Late night scuffle between Delhi Police and wrestlers at Jantar Mantar

Bajrang, an Olympic medallist, has appealed to the countrymen to observe a candlelight march on Sunday to show solidarity with the protesting grapplers. "We request all Indians to come out with a candlelight march at 7 pm on May 7," he said. The wrestlers had on Friday formed two committees to advise them on the future course of action in their fight against Brij Bhushan.

"We have formed two committees and whatever they decide, we will abide by that. The entire framework of the protest will be decided by the committee." She said the decision to approach a lower court as directed by the Supreme Court can be taken only after the Delhi Police expedites the inquiry and records statements of all the complainants.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever