New Delhi: Three members of the 1983 World Cup-winning cricket team, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, and Roger Binny, have said they are "disturbed" by the images of protesting women wrestlers being manhandled by the Delhi Police.

According to the news agency PTI, the legendary cricketers said in a statement that the women wrestlers should not take a "hasty decision" by carrying out their threat to throw away their medals into the River Ganga in protest against the inaction by the police against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and a Bharatiya Janata Party MP.

While several athletes have extended support to the protesting wrestlers, the silence of cricketers has been conspicuous. Recently, former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble also expressed concern about the handling of the situation. Binny is the chief of the BCCI.

Women wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia have been demanding criminal action against Singh, accusing him of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers. On May 28, the Delhi Police manhandled them and detained them when they tried to march to the new Parliament building from Jantar Mantar for violation of law and order. The police action against women wrestlers invited criticism from several quarters. Upping the ante against the government, the wrestlers threatened to throw away their medals into Ganga in protest against the government's inaction against Singh. Although the protesting wrestlers did go to Haridwar on May 30 to throw away their medals into Ganga, they did not carry out their threat.

Against this backdrop, the statement from the three yesteryear cricketers said, "We are distressed and disturbed at the unseemly visuals of our champion wrestlers being manhandled. We are also most concerned that they are thinking of dumping their hard-earned medals into river Ganga."

Without referring to the government or authorities, the cricketers hoped that "their grievances are heard and resolved quickly" as well as for the law of the land to prevail. "Those medals have involved years of effort, sacrifice, determination, and grit and are not only their own but the nation’s pride and joy. We urge them not to take any hasty decision in this matter and also fervently hope that their grievances are heard and resolved quickly. Let the law of the land prevail,” the statement read further.

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