The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition by para-swimmer and Arjuna Awardee Prasanta Karmakar in which he had challenged his three-year suspension, imposed by the Paralympic Committee of India for allegedly making videos of the female swimmers at the 2017 National Para Swimming Championship.
Justice Subramonium Prasad said the petitioner was bound to follow the code of conduct even as a coach and the decision taken by the disciplinary committee was not unfair or unreasonable.
“The facts of the present case indicate that there were complaints against the Petitioner, who was a coach, regarding the videos and photographs of female swimmers taken by him and his associate. The Petitioner behaved in a rude manner with persons who were there in the stadium,” the court observed in its order passed Monday.
It observed that Karmakar abused the PCI Chairman and its officials and also gave press interviews contrary to the interests of the central body.
“Resultantly, the writ petition is dismissed, along with pending application(s), if any,” the court ordered.
The court said what applied to an athlete would automatically apply to a coach as well and it could not be said that the general code of conduct should not be followed by the coach.
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“The discipline of the event cannot be permitted to be broken by any person who is participating in the event either as an athlete or as a coach or as a support staff of an athlete.
“It cannot be said that there is no power to suspend a coach for any misbehaviour or use of any uncivilized language during the event. The rules regarding the Code of Conduct cannot be read in a straight jacket formula which will promote indiscipline by a coach or any support staff of an athlete,” observed the court.
Karmakar, one of India’s most decorated athletes, was the first Indian para-swimmer to participate and win a medal at the 2003 World Swimming Championships held in Argentina.
A 2010 Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist, Karmakar was also the national champion for 16 consecutive years and was India’s swimming coach at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
