Indian athlete accused of being a male and held for alleged rape to have gender test

The Indian athlete at the centre of scandal in which she has been accused of being a male and held for alleged rape, will on undergo a gender determination test at a West Bengal government hospital today.

Asian Games gold medallist athlete Pinki Pramanik was last week accused of raping her partner. She has also been suspended by the Eastern Railway, with whom the athlete worked as a ticket collector, a Railways official said on Sunday.

"As per the service rules if a person is either in police or judicial custody for 48 hours or more he/she is automatically suspended. Pramanik was remanded to judicial custody Friday and today (Sunday) she stands suspended," Eastern Railway spokesperson Samir Goswami said.

Pramanik was arrested last week and remanded to 14 days' judicial custody by a court on Friday after the athlete's live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint accusing the athlete of being a male who repeatedly "raped and tortured" her. The scandal has rocked India.

"The court has ordered to conduct the test by June 29. We are trying to convince the athlete to go for the medical examination. We will take the sportsperson for the test on Monday at a government hospital," Rajib Kumar, commissioner of police for Bidhannagar, in North 24-Parganas, told IANS.

Following the arrest, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports showed that the former athlete was indeed a male.

She won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. She was also a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.

Pramanik retired from athletics three years ago and is now a ticket collector with Eastern Railways. She has claimed that the case is a conspiracy against her.

Credibility Score

Unconfirmed

Confirmed

Do you have anything to add to the story? Contribute here!
Do you have an opinion related to this story or topic? Write an article

Subscribe to news alerts on this topic

Choose the topics you would like to receive news alerts for
blog comments powered by Disqus

Search Blottr