Dutee Chand faces expulsion from family after revealing same sex relationship

Agencies
May 19, 2019

New Delhi, May 19: Unapologetic about her same-sex relationship with a younger relative, India's fastest woman Dutee Chand is facing a tough battle of acceptance in her family.

Dutee, who won two silver medals at the 2018 Asian Games, became one of the few athletes in the world to openly admit same-sex relationship. "I am having a relationship with a 19-year-old woman from my village for the past five years. She is studying B.A. 2nd year in a Bhubaneswar college. She is a relative of mine and whenever I come to home, I spend time with her. She is a kind of soul-mate for me and I want to settle down with her in future," Chand, 23, told PTI from Hyderabad where she is training.

A landmark judgement of the Supreme Court last year had made same sex relationship between consenting adults a non criminal act though marriage between such individuals is still not legal in India. Dutee, the 100m national record holder (11.24 seconds), says while her parents have not yet raised any objection to her relationship, her eldest sister has threatened to not only expel her from the family but also send her to jail. "My eldest sister kind of wields power and authority in my family. She has thrown out my elder brother from home because she does not like his wife.

She has threatened me that same will happen to me. But I am also an adult who has individual freedom. So, I decided to go ahead with this and make it public. "My eldest sister feels that my partner is interested in my property. She has told me that she will send me to jail for having this relationship," she said.

Dutee said her partner is free to marry whoever she wants to if she decides to do so in future. "I will continue my athletics career. I am going to take part in the World University Games next month and hope to qualify for the World Championships later this year. My aim to qualify for next year's Olympics, so I am training hard," she said.

While Dutee refused to name her partner, she said the Supreme Court judgement on the issue gave her the courage to go public. "My partner also agreed that we should make this public and face whatever repercussions it may bring to us. I believe in individual freedom and right to decide how and with whom I will live my life."

She said another reason for coming out in the open was that she did not want something which happened with sprinter Pinki Pramanik, who was accused of rape by her live-in partner. Pinki was a member of the 2006 Asian Games 4x400m relay gold winning team. "We did not want this kind of situation happening in future," Dutee said.

Dutee, who was banned for one year by the international athletics federation in 2014 for having higher testosterone (male sex hormone) level than permissible, hails from Chaka Gopalpur village at Jajpur district of Odisha and she was born to Chakradhar Chand and Akhuji Chand.

Dutee won a landmark 'gender' case against the IAAF in an appeal to the Court of Arbitration in 2015 and she was allowed to compete after being banned for one year. The CAS suspended the IAAF's policy on hyperandrogenism for two years.

Later the world body changed the policy, which applicable only on female athletes competing in the range of 400m to 1500m, leaving out Dutee, who competes in 100m and 200m, from its ambit.

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News Network
March 27,2024

IPLbettingsuicide.jpg

Bengaluru: Darshan Babu is an engineer who is fond of betting on cricket matches and has been placing major bets on Indian Premier League (IPL) games since 2021. He often borrows money after losing a bet, or to place one when he is short on funds. His 23-year-old wife, tired of the constant harassment by creditors, died by suicide.

Ranjitha was found hanging at her home in Karnataka's Chitradurga on March 18. According to the family, Darshan had racked up a debt of over Rs 1 crore.

He worked as an assistant engineer in the Minor Irrigation Department at Hosadurga and had been ensnared in the realm of IPL betting from 2021 to 2023. This took a major toll on the couple's finances. Allegedly, he had borrowed over Rs 1.5 crore to place bets after his luck ran out and he lost all his money. While he managed to return Rs 1 crore, cops say that he still has a pending loan of ₹ 84 lakh.

Ranjitha married Darshan in 2020. She realised the truth about Darshan's involvement in betting in 2021, claims her father Venkatesh.

In his complaint, Venkatesh said that his daughter was extremely distressed due to the constant harassment by moneylenders and this led to her suicide. He has also named 13 men who had allegedly lent the money.

He said that his son-in-law was lured into betting with a promise of quick money.

"He (Darshan) was not willing to get into betting, but the suspects forced him saying it was an easy way to get rich. They promised to finance his betting activities against some blank cheques as security," he said.

Cops during their investigation found a suicide note, where she detailed the harassment they faced. Darshan and Ranjitha have a two-year-old son.

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