Month: June 2023

The wrestlers say they have reasons not to trust the police. It took pressure from India’s Supreme Court to get the Delhi police to finally register a case against Mr. Singh. And while the Delhi police in other cases have been quick to arrest people on far less serious charges, Mr. Singh remains a free man, despite a strict law for the protection of minors that requires an arrest as proceedings continue.

As further cause for their distrust, the wrestlers cite the events of Sunday, when Mr. Singh attended the grand inauguration of a new Parliament building by Mr. Modi and posted pictures of him inside. That same day, the police tore down the wrestlers’ protest encampment, detained them and charged them with disrupting public order.

It was this final act — which United World Wrestling, the sport’s governing body, condemned in a statement that also expressed “disappointment over the lack of results of the investigations” — that led them to the river.

Kavita Krishnan, a feminist activist, said she had seen a drastic shrinking of physical space for protest in the capital in recent years.

The previous coalition government headed by the Indian National Congress Party also tried to disrupt protests, particularly after a horrific gang rape case that shook India in 2012. But she and other activists were still able to hold regular protests, large and small, she said.

“We were not just picked up and carried off wholesale and prevented from having a demonstration at all,” she said.

“Jantar Mantar is the designated spot for protest, and the wrestlers are not allowed to continue their protest even there,” she said. “Even if at the designated places you can’t protest over a sustained length of time, where do you go?”

Suman Nalwa, a spokeswoman for the Delhi police, rejected suggestions that the police abuse laws to prevent assembly. She said Delhi continues to host frequent protests, particularly in Jantar Mantar.

“There are certain areas in New Delhi district because of security and law-and-order issues as well as traffic issues — they are out of bound for any kind of protest by anybody, irrespective of their political or ideological affiliations” she said.

On the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar late Tuesday, the wrestlers sat in a huddle as a large crowd of supporters and cameras surrounded them. Thousands were gathered for the evening sunset prayer.

Ms. Malik, the winner of an Olympic bronze and several other international medals, tightly hugged what her fellow protesters said was a box of her accolades and citations.

Around 7:30 p.m., a group of elderly farmer leaders arrived and pushed their way into the huddle for a meeting. When it became clear that they had persuaded the wrestlers not to throw their medals into the river, and to give the government five more days, a nearly comic quest ensued among protesters: Where were the medals? (The farmer leaders said they had taken the medals to protect them.)

“Who will send their daughters to play the sport when these kind of jackals are roaming around?” said Suhdir Kumar, a father of three, including one daughter, who was supporting the wrestlers’ protest.

“They are doing the right thing,” he said of the wrestlers. “At least they are opening the eyes of others.”