New Delhi. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on wrestler Bajrang Punia’s petition challenging his suspension. When the senior lawyer appearing for Punia requested interim relief citing the upcoming Senior World Wrestling Championship in Albania, the court said that no formal application has been filed for this. Justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice to the agency on Punia’s petition.
Poonia was one of the wrestlers at the forefront of the protest at Jantar Mantar last year demanding the arrest of then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly sexually harassing seven women wrestlers. The agency’s lawyer said a disciplinary committee has been formed and is looking into the issue. He said the final hearing is “about to take place”.
NADA had issued a formal “charge notice” to Poonia after suspending him for the second time on June 21, making him ineligible to participate in training and competitions. Three weeks earlier, NADA had revoked his previous suspension, saying it had not given notice to the wrestler about the charges. The agency had first suspended Poonia on April 23 after he refused to give his urine sample for dope testing during the selection test held in Sonipat on March 10. Wrestling’s global governing body, United Wrestling World (UWW), had also suspended Poonia.
Senior advocate Rajiv Dutta, appearing for the wrestler, said, “This is a unique case of harassing someone… The World Championship is going to be held. I have to participate. I have to practice. They are ending my career.” However, the court questioned Poonia over his refusal to give samples for testing and asked, “How will they allow you to play if you do not get tested.” Poonia’s lawyer insisted that he has “not refused” to undergo a dope test but has only sought an answer from the authorities about the way the tests were conducted earlier.
Requesting to cancel NADA’s decision, Dutta said, “The provision says that if I have any reason for not getting tested, they have to look into it. There is no provision for provisional suspension. Cancel the provisional suspension.” The lawyer said, “I have not refused. I did not refuse. First of all, the person who came had brought an old kit. They accepted this. That person has been suspended. I said please answer me what has happened. The people who came the second time were not authorized to do it.” However, the court said that this cannot be a basis for conducting the test after this.
The court said, “It cannot be a basis that this incident has happened and now I will not give my samples for further investigation.” Poonia’s lawyer said that he is ready to undergo the test on Wednesday itself. Dutta said, “They should take the samples today itself.” NADA’s lawyer said that “samples cannot be taken like this” because this test is done as per the plan. The court verbally said that Poonia can put his complaints before the disciplinary committee. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till October.
The NADA lawyer said no player can refuse a dope test and Poonia was not being “targeted”.
The lawyer said, “There is a disciplinary committee in place. We would never want any of our Olympian players, who will bring a medal for the country tomorrow, to be harassed.”