New Delhi: In a major relief for ace Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen, the Supreme Court on Tuesday, February 25 stayed coercive action against him in the age fraud allegation case. The Supreme Court issued a notice on a special leave petition filed by Lakshya, seeking the quashing of an investigation in the case where he has been alleged to have fabricated his birth certificates to take part in underage tournaments.
The Supreme Court issued notice after Sen filed a petition challenging the Karnataka High Court’s order rejecting his plea to quash an investigation into the age-fraud case. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran stayed any investigation or criminal action against the Indian badminton player. The Supreme Court will now hear the matter again on April 16.
What is the age-fraud case against Lakshya Sen?
Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen, who represented India in the Paris Olympics last year, has been accused of age fraud. A case was filed against Lakshya, his brother Chirag Sen, parents Dhirendra and Nirmala Sena, coach U Vimal Kumar and a member of the Karnataka Badminton Association for allegedly fabricating birth certificates of both shuttlers. Lakshya’s brother Chirag is also a national-level badminton player.
A private complaint was filed by MG Nagaraj, who accused Lakshya, his parents and his coach of forging birth records of him and his brother to allow them to take part in age-level tournaments. Nagaraj alleged both players’ ages were reduced by approximately 2.5 years in their respective birth certificates. An FIR was registered in the matter in December 2022 under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged record).
Nagaraj, who runs a private badminton academy in Bengaluru, has alleged in his complaint that Sen, whose year of birth is 2001 as per the Badminton World Federation (BWF) records, was born in 1998 and that his age was forged in his birth certificates. Nagaraj presented documents obtained through Right to Information (RTI) to support his claims in the Karnataka High Court following which the court ordered the High Ground police station to register an FIR and conduct an investigation into the matter.
However, the investigation was stalled after Sen, his parents and his coach moved to the Karnataka High Court and secured an interim order. The petitioners alleged that Nagaraj was acting out of personal vendetta, claiming that his daughter had auditioned to join the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru in 2020 but was not selected after failing the evaluation process.
What did the Karnata High Court say?
Justice MG Uma of the Karnataka High Court on February 19, dismissed the writ petition filed by Sen and his parents stating that there was no reason to quash the investigation and stop the initial criminal proceedings against the parties. Justice Uma observed that the prima facie materials presented by Nagaraj constitute the offences.
“When prima facie materials are placed on record which constitute the offences, I do not find any reason either to stall the investigation or to quash the initiation of criminal proceedings. There are sufficient materials that are placed before the Court by the complainant which are the documents that are obtained under the Right to Information Act from the appropriate authority. Under such circumstances, I do not find any reason to entertain the petitions,” stated Justice Uma.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice on petition filed by Indian badminton player Lakhsya Sen, staying coercive action against him in a age-fraud case. Badminton Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
