Delhi High Court upholds suspension of para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar accused of recording videos of female swimmers

The Delhi High Court recently rejected a plea by para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar challenging his suspension on the charges that he recorded videos of female swimmers during the National Swimming Championships held at Jaipur in 2017 [Prasanta Karmakar v Paralympic Committee of India Through its Chairman & Ors]..Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that Karmakar was acting as the coach of the swimming team and there were complaints against him regarding the videos and photographs of female swimmers taken by him and his associate..“The Petitioner (Karmakar) behaved in a rude manner with persons who were there in the stadium. The Petitioner has abused the Chairman and the officials of Respondent No.1 (Paralympic Committee of India). The Petitioner has also indulged in giving press interviews bringing down the interests of Respondent No.1. Therefore, the decision taken by the Disciplinary Committee of Respondent No.1 cannot be said to be unfair or unreasonable warranting interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India,” the Court held..The Court also opined that it was not as if the General Code of Conduct was to be followed only by the athletes and not the coach. Justice Prasad stressed that the Code of Conduct applies equally to both the athletes and the coach.“The rules regarding the Code of Conduct cannot be read in a straitjacket formula which will promote indiscipline by a coach or any support staff of an athlete. Any such interpretation which would go against the very purpose of providing a Code of Conduct and cannot be permissible. Therefore, the word athlete used in Clause 19.1.6 would mean to include a coach and a support staff of an athlete who participates in the games and all of them cannot be permitted to misbehave or use of uncivilized language or indulge in unlawful acts or act against the interest of Committee and welfare and development of Para Sports," the Court said.Any other interpretation given to the interpretation of the Rules would go against the spirit of Clause 19 of the Bye-laws, the Court added..Karmakar is an Arjuna awardee and has won gold medals at the Commonwealth and the Asian Games. He was also appointed team coach for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.He was suspended in February 2018 from participating and being sponsored in any sports event organized by the Paralympic Committee for a period of three years. Recommendations were also made to the Haryana Sports Department, where Karmakar was working, to take strict disciplinary action against him.He challenged the order before the High Court and also sought damages or compensation for a violation of his fundamental rights under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.However, the Court has dismissed his plea..Advocates Varun Singh, Amit Kumar Sharma, Satayam Singh, Mudrika Tomar, Alankriti Dwivedi, Rohan Chandra, Sanjeev Gupta, Aarti Singh and Diwas Kumar appeared for Prasanta Karmakar.The Paralympic Committee was represented through Advocate Naveen Kumar Chaudhary.Central Government Standing Counsel Vikram Jetly and Advocate Shreya Jetly appeared for the Central government. .[Read Judgment]