Asian Games gold medalist athlete Pinki Pramanik, described as a male in a police charge sheet which also accused her of rape, said she would file a defamation case against investigators and a government lawyer. The athlete has argued that ‘higher male hormones does not make one a male’ and decided to approach West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging a police conspiracy to compel her to commit suicide.
‘I will slap a defamation case against the police and the additional public prosecutor for defaming me and trying to outrage my modesty,’ said the 26-year-old athlete, who was formally charged on Monday. This was the outcome of a complaint from her former live-in partner that Pinki was ‘actually a male’ who had ‘repeatedly raped’ her.
Pinki has been aggrieved about the way cops have treated her from the very beginning. ‘I think that a conspiracy has been hatched against me. I have been subjected to mental torture by the police which wants me to commit suicide,’ Pinki said. Pinki added, ‘It is surprising that the police have filed the charge sheet based on the medical report.’ She also said the allegations from the complainant seemed to have been accepted in the charge sheet without verification.
The police document filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate at Barasat town in North 24 Parganas district cited the opinion of a seven-member medical board constituted to confirm the athlete’s gender in June.’ This shows the police are very biased in the case. In fact they have been biased from the very beginning. I will fight my case in the court,’ said the middle distance runner.
Pinki is now out on bail. Additional Public Prosecutor Santomoy Bose said after the hearing: ‘I have seen the report...from the doctors’ opinion it can be concluded that Pinki is a male.’The charge sheet also accused Pinki of torture, cheating, co-habiting with the promise of marriage and threat to the complainant not to disclose their relationship.
The athlete was arrested on 14 June and remanded in judicial custody the next day after the her live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint. Pinki, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games at Doha. Pinki was a silver medalist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.
‘I will slap a defamation case against the police and the additional public prosecutor for defaming me and trying to outrage my modesty,’ said the 26-year-old athlete, who was formally charged on Monday. This was the outcome of a complaint from her former live-in partner that Pinki was ‘actually a male’ who had ‘repeatedly raped’ her.
Pinki has been aggrieved about the way cops have treated her from the very beginning. ‘I think that a conspiracy has been hatched against me. I have been subjected to mental torture by the police which wants me to commit suicide,’ Pinki said. Pinki added, ‘It is surprising that the police have filed the charge sheet based on the medical report.’ She also said the allegations from the complainant seemed to have been accepted in the charge sheet without verification.
The police document filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate at Barasat town in North 24 Parganas district cited the opinion of a seven-member medical board constituted to confirm the athlete’s gender in June.’ This shows the police are very biased in the case. In fact they have been biased from the very beginning. I will fight my case in the court,’ said the middle distance runner.
Pinki is now out on bail. Additional Public Prosecutor Santomoy Bose said after the hearing: ‘I have seen the report...from the doctors’ opinion it can be concluded that Pinki is a male.’The charge sheet also accused Pinki of torture, cheating, co-habiting with the promise of marriage and threat to the complainant not to disclose their relationship.
The athlete was arrested on 14 June and remanded in judicial custody the next day after the her live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint. Pinki, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games at Doha. Pinki was a silver medalist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.