Kapil Dev questions role of judiciary in wrestlers’ protests: ‘What is the use of courts?’

In a statement, the 1983 World Cup winning team said that they are “dressed and durbed” in the way wrestlers have been “manhandled” on the streets the Police and urged the protesting wrestlers not to dump their hard-earned medals into river Ganga.
“We are dressed and durbed 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,” read a statement released the 1983 World Cup winning team.

Kapil Dev, who captained the team to the country’s first World Cup trophy, said the “law of the land should prevail.”
“Yeh court kis liye bana hua hai hamare desh mein. Woh hai na. Yehi chahenge ke bus isse critical angle na doh let go through the system (What is the use of judiciary in our country, that’s there right? Without giving it a critical angle, I want this issue to be resolved),” Kapil Dev told The Indian Express.
The 1983 World Cup win is arguably India’s first big global sporting triumph and it still holds resonance and emotional appeal for a large part of the country’s consciousness. That Kapil’s Devils managed to eclipse Clive Lloyd’s Caribbean legends, considered one of the most fearsome outfits to ever take the field, makes the achievement even more remarkable.
Sakshi Malik, the wrestler who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, is detained the police during a protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, in New Delhi, May, 28, 2023. (AP)
Kapil Dev’s famous running catch to dismiss Viv Richards, and Balwinder Sandhu’s banana inswinger to hit Gordon Greenidge’s stumps have left a deep imprint on the minds of generations.
A member of Class of 83, pacer Madan Lal, has requested the protesting wrestlers not to throw their ‘khoon paseene ke medals’ in river Ganga, and asks them not to give up the fight.

Lal said the team decided to release a statement after they saw the wrestlers went to Haridwar to throw their medals and the way the police treated them.

“That was the trigger point,” he told The Indian Express.
“We have given the statement in favour of the protesting wrestlers. We can only request the government to len to them. They have been protesting for the last two and three months and you can’t be just tone-deaf about it.”
“Humey pata hai keemat. (We know what it takes to win the medal).

“Medal is not won in one or two years. It is the hard work of 20 years. They have worked day in and day out. How many people in our country have won medals at the Olympics, Asian Games, and World Championships? khoon paseene ki kamayi hai (These medals are made out of sweat and blood).
“My best wishes are to the wrestlers. If you are right, keep on fighting. Never give up. Once you are right, then fight the battle till you win it,” he added.
Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, who have been demanding the arrest of WFI chief, took their protest to Haridwar on May 30 but did not carry out the threat of immersing their medals into Ganga, but they changed their minds after receiving a phone call from a BJP leader asking for some time, and pressure from the families not to go ahead with their plans.

In the statement, the World Cup winning team has requested the wrestlers not to take any decision in haste.
“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.