Rape charge against Olympian: Girl testifies in court

KOLKATA: A day after lodging a rape FIR against Olympian and Arjuna awardee table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh, the teenage survivor on Thursday appeared before a Barasat judicial magistrate to record her in-camera statement. Stepping out of the courtroom, she told reporters that she still wanted Soumyajit to marry her, for he caused her social disgrace.
The teenager whose complaint in the Barasat women’s police station led to the FIR against Ghosh under POCSO Act 2012 (she was a minor when she was reportedly abused) and IPC sections for rape, criminal conspiracy, causing miscarriage without the woman’s consent and cheating, even told reporters she wants to take her plea to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.“I would appeal for help from them,” she said.
Police sources said the victim underwent a medical examination in the Barasat hospital on Wednesday night. Police indicated she may face another medical examination to complete the medico-legal formalities under the Pocso Act. The victim’s family has already handed over to the cops her birth certificate, several photographs in which Ghosh and the girl were seen together, evidence of a land registered in Hooghly in both their names.
“The investigation is at a nascent stage and nothing much can be said about it as of now,” additional superintendent of police (Barasat) Abhijit Banerjee said. “In her complaint, the girl claimed the two of them met on a social networking site in 2014 and that the Olympian had promised to marry her after she turned 18,” the officer said.
Talking to news agencies, Ghosh denied the rape charge, alleging that the girl was blackmailing him after their relationship ended. “The allegations are baseless. I will move court,” Ghosh, who is currently in Germany, told the agencies.