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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Unsung Champions

The Commonwealth Games have once again reminded India of a sporting truth that is too often forgotten amid the deafening roar of cricket stadiums, billion-dollar leagues and celebrity endorsements. The greatest sporting stories of at the CWG have emerged from dusty fields, improvised training grounds and lives shaped by extraordinary adversity. India’s athletes in Glasgow have rewritten the meaning of sporting triumph. The story of Sharmila Dhankar is nothing short of extraordinary. Struck by...

Unsung Champions

The Commonwealth Games have once again reminded India of a sporting truth that is too often forgotten amid the deafening roar of cricket stadiums, billion-dollar leagues and celebrity endorsements. The greatest sporting stories of at the CWG have emerged from dusty fields, improvised training grounds and lives shaped by extraordinary adversity. India’s athletes in Glasgow have rewritten the meaning of sporting triumph. The story of Sharmila Dhankar is nothing short of extraordinary. Struck by polio at the age of two, having endured the trauma of an abusive marriage, she could have been reduced to a statistic in a country where disability and social barriers often combine to crush ambition. Instead, the 40-year-old from Haryana transformed pain into power, producing a season’s best throw of 9.81 metres to become India’s first para-athlete to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal. Her victory in the women’s shot put F57 event was a declaration of human resilience. Sharmila’s journey, from physical disability and personal hardship to the top step of a global podium, captures the very essence of sport. Her compatriot Shilpa Shyla’s bronze medal in the same event added another chapter to this inspiring tale. Together, the two Indian women demonstrated that determination can overcome disadvantages that would have stopped many others. Sarvesh Kushare, who won a historic silver in the men’s high jump, comes from a farming family in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. His early training ground was not a sophisticated sports facility but makeshift pits created from agricultural waste by his father. Gulveer Singh’s magnificent silver in the men’s 10,000 metres - India’s first-ever medal in the event at the Commonwealth Games - was another reminder that Indian endurance athletes, often overlooked in a cricket-obsessed sporting ecosystem, possess the talent and tenacity to compete with the best in the world. These athletes represent a different India that battles scarcity, limited facilities and social constraints before it battles opponents on the track or field. Their medals are not products of privilege but triumphs of persistence. For decades, cricket has deservedly enjoyed its place as India’s most popular sport. But the imbalance in attention, resources and public imagination cannot continue indefinitely. A nation of 1.4 billion people cannot measure its sporting identity through one game alone. The Commonwealth Games have shown India a mirror that reflects not just medals, but the immense human potential waiting beyond the spotlight. The achievements in Glasgow should become a turning point. India must invest more deeply in athletics, para-sports and Olympic disciplines, not merely when medals arrive but when dreams begin. Because every Sharmila Dhankar, Sarvesh Kushare and Gulveer Singh represents the extraordinary sporting potential of India waiting to be unleashed.

Organised bid to brainwash, convert Dalit woman: Court’


Mumbai: A Nashik Sessions Court – which declined anticipatory bail to a woman employee of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in an alleged conversion case – has observed that the charges against her point to a ‘systematic and organised attempt’ to influence and push a female Dalit colleague towards changing her religion.


Additional Sessions Judge K. G. Joshi said that the nature of accusations against the accused – Nida Ejaz Khan – pointed to a deliberated pattern rather than an isolated act.


At this stage there appears to be a ‘clear reference’ to the accused’s role in the complaint and the supporting material submitted by the prosecution in the sensational case, he noted in the detailed order.


Multilayered Probe

“Prima facie, it appeared that the applicant’s role is specifically mentioned, and involvement is also seen. The magnitude of the offense is truly multi-dimensional and multi-layered. The material on record shows that the accused tried to change the victim’s name. No doubt, the victim has a Constitutional right to profess any religion and have any name of her own choice, but that does not mean she should be brainwashed for the same and that too with organised plan,” said Judge Joshi’s order.


Considering the seriousness of the charges against her, the court held that it was not a fit case to grant protection from arrest.


The case arises from complaints filed and multiple FIRs registered in Deolali and Mumbai Naka Police Stations in Nashik, against eight accused persons - six men and two women - including a senior operations manager at TCS. While 7 accused have been arrested, only Nida remains at large.


Among other things the complaints alleged sexual harassment of women employees, attempts at religious conversion, humiliation, threats at the workplace, and sexual remarks. Nida is also accused of making derogatory remarks on Hindu deities and reportedly played an active role in influencing the complainant to change her faith.


Malaysia Trip Planned

The court referred to the prosecution’s contentions how Nida attempted to persuade the complainant to change her name and even sought assistance from individuals in Malegaon for the purpose. It further alleged that she wanted to send the complainant-victim to Malaysia as part of the broader plan in which names of several cities and countries emerged.


After the entire scam erupted last month, Nida moved the court for anticipatory bail through lawyers, Rahul Kasliwal and Baba Sayyad, citing her pregnancy and delay in filing the FIR among the grounds.


However, Judge Joshi said that the probe was multidimensional and multi-layered which warranted the physical custody of the accused.


Right To Faith

Though acknowledging that every individual has a constitutional right to choose and practice a religion of their choice, the court made it clear that such a decision must be free of coercion or manipulation. “That does not mean she (the victim) should be brainwashed for the same, and that too with an organised plan,” Judge Joshi noted.


It took into account the allegations that Nida worked with co-accused Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar to influence the complainant by criticising Hindu beliefs and providing her with religious material, including a burqa and literature on the life of Prophet Muhammad, to convince her to convert.


Based on the available material, the court said offences under provisions related to outraging religious feelings and under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act appeared to be made out at this stage, and rejected Nida’s anticipatory bail plea.

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