Wrestler Vinesh Phogat took to social media on Sunday to say that many supporters, women's rights activists, and members of the 'Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’ were detained by the Delhi police ahead of their planned protest outside the new Parliament House building. Hours later, Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia, and other protesting wrestlers too were detained from the protest site.

Videos from Jantar Mantar showed the wrestlers and their supporters trying to protect each other while the police pushed and pulled at them, trying to get them into custody.

In the neighbor state of Haryana, where many women supporters were planning to join the protest, were also detained. The Indian Express revealed, several farmers' leaders, including BKU's Gurnam Singh Chaduni, have been detained inside their homes in Haryana.

The group of protesting wrestlers, including Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, all from Haryana, have been demanding action against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP’s Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. The protest has continued for over a month and the athletes are resolved to not give in until Singh is arrested for the alleged sexual offenses. Singh, however, has denied the accusations. The police has also reportedly smashed tents and coolers in the protest site at Jantar Mantar.

In a video posted on her official Twitter account on Sunday morning, Phogat said that "democracy is being murdered openly". 

Speaking in Hindi, the 28-year-old wrestler further added that the nation will remember how "women who were demanding their rights were suppressed while the new Parliament was being inaugurated". Malik too took to her Twitter account and wrote, “To all my international fraternity, our Prime Minister is inaugurating our new parliament. But on the other hand, our supporters have been arrested for supporting us.” Later, Malik too was detained, her team tweeted. 

Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal condemned the police for detaining the wrestlers. He said, "The actions are completely wrong and against humanity."