HC intervenes in doping allegations

Onkar Singh

The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed the Union government to constitute a committee of experts to look into allegations that some leading Indian athletes had used performance-enhancing drugs.

The three-member committee will constitute officials from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Authority of India.

"Inform us once the committee is formed," the court said.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by marathon runner Sunita Godara, who alleged that some top Indians athletes took drugs and steroids to improve their performance.

The two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice D K Jain, however, took strong exception to a report in a leading daily, which named some of the country's leading athletes, including the legendary P T Usha, Bahadur Singh, Shiny Wilson, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, V Pandeshwari, Shubdeep Singh, Jagbir Singh, Keshav Singh, and Zorawar Singh, as being guilty of the malpractice.

The chief justice was particularly was upset over the way the petitioner had used the media to hold a parallel trail.

Sports Authority of India advocate S Mukherjee handed over to the court the names of 140 Indian athletes who are alleged to have tested positive for drug use at some time or the other during national meets. The names, however, were not made public by the court and handed over to Chief Justice Pasayat in a sealed envelope.

Talking to rediff.com, Dalbir Singh, husband of Sunita Godara, claimed that the report which appeared in The Hindustan Times on Tuesday morning is correct and the athletes named therein had indeed tested positive during dope tests conducted at various meets in the country.

He alleged that barring five athletes, which included his wife Sunita Godara, Prakash Padukone, Sriram Singh and two others, almost all athletes who represented the country in Asian and Olympic Games had used drugs to enhance their performance at some time or the other.

Indian Olympic Association counsel R K Anand argued that the charges levelled against the top athletes are totally false and baseless.

"These athletes have been participating in international competitions and had tested negative at the doping tests whenever they won a medal.

"I wish the media had acted in more responsible manner in this case," he said.