14-day judicial custody for Pinki Pramanik

Kolkata: A West Bengal court on Friday remanded Asian Games gold medal-winning athlete Pinki Pramanik to 14 days' judicial custody after the athlete was accused of being a male and arrested on charges of alleged rape.

"The court has remanded Pramanik to judicial custody for 14 days. The court has also directed that the athlete's gender be determined through a medical test in a government hospital within 14 days," Deputy Commissioner of Police Bidhannagar (North 24 Parganas) Subrata Bandyopadhyay said.

"Pramanik has been kept in a separate cell as her gender is disputed and yet to be determined through a medical test at a government hospital," public prosecutor Bikas Dey said.

Pramanik was arrested after the athlete's live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, lodged a police complaint accusing Pramanik of being a man who has been repeatedly raping and torturing her.

Following the complaint, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports showed that the athlete was indeed a male.

Pramanik, who refused to undergo a second medical test Thursday, again declined to go for the test Friday.

"We are trying to convince Pramanik for the test," the athlete's counsel, Madhav Sanyal, said.

Pramanik won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. She was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.

Pramanik retired from athletics three years ago and is now a ticket collector with Eastern Railways. (IANS)