Title - Pinki Pramanik may get back railway job

KOLKATA: With the North 24-Parganas district judge virtually exonerating Pinki Pramanik of the rape charge while granting her bail on Tuesday, the former athlete's suspension from service with Eastern Railway is likely to be revoked soon. Eastern Railway officials have already got in touch with legal experts and the general opinion is that the results of the medical tests carried out on her should not be considered while taking a decision."Rape charges were leveled against her and she was arrested. As per rules, she was automatically suspended after spending 48 hours behind the bars. The complaint didn't accuse her of being male and the medical tests were carried out as per orders of the court. Now that the court has said that she is incapable of rape, we shall consider her innocent. It is not for us to scan the medical test reports," an official said.Though criminal charges have been leveled against railway staff in the past and they have been suspended, officials pointed out that they have never come across a case so complex. Though there are no plans till now to take disciplinary action against her, the situation could change if international sports bodies start probing whether she qualified as a woman when participating in meets where she won medals.

"We are keeping our fingers crossed. Things may get more complex if international sports bodies decide to take back her medals. The question that will be asked then is whether her appointment as a woman track and field sportsperson in 2003 was valid. Things may get tricky then. If the inquiries reveal that she was qualified to participate in events meant for women, there won't be a problem even if the situation has changed now," the official added.

Pinki joined the Sealdah division of Eastern Railway as a khalasi (a Group-D post) in 2003 when she was not even 17-years-old. Though rules don't allow the railways to hire minors, an exception was made in her case after talent spotters vouched that she was medal hope for the country. Within five years she got three promotions and was made a head travel ticker examiner. Before long, she shifted to the commercial department and joined as a ticket checker. After bagging gold medals in the Doha Asiad and a silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Pinki received another boost. She got an out of turn promotion from ticket checker to travel ticket examiner. Though she missed most of the season in 2007 due to an injury, she got another out of turn promotion on May 15, 2008. This time round she was promoted to head travel ticket examiner on the recommendations of a senior official. She dashed the railways' hopes when she dropped out of the 2008 Olympics squad, citing a hamstring problem.

Officials in charge of the sports department in the railways weren't too surprised when the controversy over Pinki's gender arose recently. According to sources, after the Santhi Soundarajan incident, fingers were also pointed against Pinki. After that, the athlete was asked to maintain a low profile so far as competing in international sports meets was concerned.