NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday said it will pass an order on July 22 on a challenge to the exemption granted to top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia from the Asian Games trials. Justice Subramonium Prasad reserved the verdict on the petition by Under-20 World Champion Antim Panghal and Under-23 Asian Champion Sujeet Kalkal against the direct entry handed to Phogat and Punia. “Heard. Reserved. Pronouncement tomorrow (Saturday) through VC by evening”, the court said.
The high court also asked the ad-hoc panel running the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to file an affidavit by Friday evening that there is no record of a withdrawal of exemptions in a meeting on August 25, 2020.
Justice Prasad orally remarked that he will not deal with the issue of who is a better wrestler. “The endeavour of the court is not to find who is better. The endeavour is to see whether the procedure has been followed or not,” he said.
The petitioners were challenging the decision of the ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association granting exemption to Phogat and Punia in the trials for men’s freestyle 65kg and women’s 53kg categories earlier this month. The plea moved through Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah and Akshay Kumar said that the trials should be held in a fair manner, without granting any exemption to any wrestler and the whole process must be video graphed.
Baruah assailed the decision on several grounds, including that the general body of the WFI had withdrawn the provision for exempting sportspersons in August 2022. The counsel for the ad-hoc panel running the affairs of the WFI, however, said such a decision is “not in the files” and the court asked him to file an affidavit in support of his stand.
They also argued that the exemption was not based on any recommendation by the chief coaches and foreign experts, which is the requirement. The court, however, observed that it cannot be said that the selection committee was acting against national interest and asked the petitioners if the selection was so “perverse” that it warranted its interference.
On Tuesday, the four-member ad-hoc committee running the WFI decided to send Punia and Phogat to the Asian Games-2023 exempting their trial bouts. Both wrestlers are at the forefront of the protest against outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment charges.
