A district court today granted bail to former Indian athlete Pinki Pramanik who has been accussed by another woman of being a man and raping her.
“Pinki was granted bail today by the court district judge North 24 Parganas on a personal bond of Rs.5,000,” Tuhin Roy, the counsel, told IANS.
Pramanik was arrested on charges of rape.
An 11-member medical board consisting of doctors from the government-run SSKM Hospital was constituted and conducted several tests on Pinki on 25 June. However, due to the lack of facilities, Karyotyping — a choromosomal test — could not be carried out.
The athlete’s 19 June test at another government hospital in North 24 Parganas also was inconclusive, following which the athlete was referred to the SSKM.
Pramanik was arrested on 14 June and remanded in 14 days’ judicial custody by a court on 15 June 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.
Subsequent to the arrest, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports claimed that the former top notch athlete was indeed a male. Pramanik, however, has claimed innocence and said it was a conspiracy.
Pramanik, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4×400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. The runner was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.
The Eastern Railway, with which the athlete is a ticket collector, suspended Pramanik on 16 June following her remand in judicial custody.
