International player alleges ill-treatment at venue

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 15

The Global Kabaddi League Championship has begun with various controversies. On day one, while MLAs left the venue soon after inaugurating the event, an international player and a state awardee on the other hand alleged that she was not allowed to attend the league.

Ramandeep Kaur, 29, an International-level player, suffering from polio, has won gold in the Commonwealth Games 2017. She alleged that said she needed support to walk, but she was ill-treated at the event. She alleged that when she entered the venue with her family members, she was asked about the purpose of her visit.

“I replied that I had come there to enjoy the match as well as the performance of Gurdas Mann. The officer then behaved strangely and said he knew why I was there at the event,” Kaur. What harm can a physically challenged person like me do to them. This is the reward I have received for my achievements,” said Kaur adding that they had disparaged her integrity.

Kaur went on to say that the officials then asked her to come outside so that her meeting could be arranged with the Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Sodhi.

Kaur alleged that the officials made her sit outside for about an hour after which she realised that they neither tried to arrange her meeting with the minister nor did they send her inside the stadium. Some police officials surrounded her. “I felt like being followed and trapped,” she rued the treatment being meted out to her.

She said despite her disability, she competed in the general category with normal players. She also said on August 15, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi had assured her of a job based on her achievements.

Her husband Gurpreet Singh, who is a driver, also questioned that how could a disabled woman be a threat to anybody. “We had thought that if we got a chance, we would hand over a letter to the minister, urging him to help my wife get a job she deserved, but forget about the job, she did not even get the respect she deserves,” he added.

ADCP Parminder Singh Bhandal refuted the allegations. “The league is for the players, why would they be treated like that. I had told them that I was there for any kind of help. I would be more than happy if she gets a job. We would have arranged her meeting with the minister, but she left before the minister reached the venue,” Bhandal said.