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Published 10 Jul, 2012 03:19pm

Indian court grants bail to athlete charged of raping girlfriend

KOLKATA: An Indian court granted bail on Tuesday to a female international athlete charged with raping her former girlfriend, who has alleged that she is actually a man.

Pinki Pramanik, who retired in 2007 after winning a team gold in the 4x400m relay at the 2006 Asian Games, underwent a gender determination test during her detention in West Bengal state.

Doctors from a state-run hospital said that Pramanik’s test results were delivered on Tuesday to the trial magistrate in the Barasat district of Kolkata.

“The medical board set up for determining the gender of Pramanik submitted its report after she was produced before the court,” Tamal Kanti Ghosh, medical superintendent at the SSKM hospital, told AFP.

Pramanik, who was arrested on June 14, has alleged her former live-in lover brought rape charges against her after the athlete refused to give her 300,000 rupees.

The content of the doctors’ report was not made public.

But defence lawyer Sibabrata Mukherjee told AFP that the court granted bail to Pramanik as “the accused does not have the capacity” for penetrative sex.

“The allegation of rape does not stand against Pramanik,” Mukherjee said.

Pramanik grew up as the daughter of a poor farmer in rural West Bengal, about 140 miles (220 kilometres) from Kolkata and now works as a ticket inspector on the Indian railways.

She also won a silver in the 4x400m relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games before she stopped competing the following year.

Pramanik, who had lived with her former partner in Kolkata for several months, was arrested for alleged rape, criminal assault, cheating and criminal intimidation.

Gender disputes in sport are often caused by Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, when females have male physical characteristics, or Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, when someone is genetically male but their genitals may appear to be those of a female.

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