The former middle-distance runner, who had won the 4x400m relay gold in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, has been accused of being a male and of allegedly raping her live-in partner. Her 30-year-old line-in partner, an estranged woman, had alleged that Pinki was in fact a male following which the athlete was made to undergo gender determination tests.

The formed gold medallist has had a horrid time. She was kept in a male jail, forced to take gender determination tests and even had an MMS clip released while undergoing one of these tests. The treatment meted out to her came under severe criticism from various avenues. All her gender tests were inconclusive and the courts deemed that she was ‘incapable’ of rape. The earlier verdict said that she was genetically almost male.

Is Pinki male or female? The answer isn’t that simple.

“I am not male. I have always been female. As a child, I used to look very sweet. I was a normal girl, like any other, and I wore clothes like that (pointing to my salwar kameez). But now I only wear these clothes (pointing to her track-pants and polo shirt). I look more male now because, as part of my training to compete in international athletics, I used to be regularly administered testosterone injections like other female participants. It was called Russian medicine. I was told that it was necessary to take these and I never questioned whether these were legal or not. I was focused on winning and did whatever I was asked to do by my trainers, who knew what was best for me. But after that my voice became deeper and I grew more body hair.”

Pinki also accused the police of manhandling her and said she was forced to undergo multiple gender determination tests. “When they arrested me, I was led away by two male police, who grabbed me by the arms. I told them, ‘I’m not going to run away. Please don’t manhandle me’. But they didn’t listen. I was also kept in the men’s prison, though in a separate cell. I was assigned one female guard, along with one male guard, during the 26 days that I was in jail. I did not want to undergo a gender test because it is humiliating. But they forcefully subjected me to it against my wishes. I was taken to a hospital and given an injection to make me fall asleep. When I awoke, I found my hands and feet tied to the bed and all my clothes removed.”

The formed gold medallist had a horrid time in recent weeks. She was kept in a male jail, forced to take gender determination tests and even had an MMS clip released while undergoing one of these tests. The treatment meted out to her came under severe criticism from various avenues. All her gender tests were inconclusive and the courts deemed that she was ‘incapable’ of rape. The final verdict said that she was genetically almost male.

Is Pinki male or female? The answer isn’t that simple.

She said that Avtar Singh had some land dispute with Pramanik, for which he needed to prove that Pinki was a male. This comes after Bengal sports minister Madan Mitra claimed a few day back that a person who was arrested in 2004 had tried to grab the lands of the sportspersons allocated by the Left Front government in 2006. 

Singh’s wife Sikdar had spoken out against her arrest said that her husband was not involved and the current regime was trying to implicate him falsely. But Pinki’s former partner described the story which led to Pramanik’s arrest. “After a tiff over payments, Singh told me over phone we need to show the world Pinki is a male,” the woman told a leading daily, hinting that the plan was to portray Pramanik as a fraud and pack her off to prison. 

“Their problem started after Pinki demanded more money for the plot of land where Singh is building a high-rise. Singh paid her a part of the Rs 30 lakh Pinki demanded but their bickering continued,” she said.

The formed gold medallist had a horrid time in recent weeks. She was kept in a male jail, forced to take gender determination tests and even had an MMS clip released while undergoing one of these tests. The treatment meted out to her came under severe criticism from various avenues. All her gender tests were inconclusive and the courts deemed that she was ‘incapable’ of rape. The final verdict said that she was genetically almost male.

Is Pinki male or female? The answer isn’t that simple.

“Normal Karyotypes for females contain two X chromosomes and are denoted as 46, XX. Males have an X and a Y chromosome and are denoted 46, XY. Tests reports revealed that Pramanik has predominantly male features. The test reports – along with our observations – have been submitted to the court,” a member of the medical board was quoted as saying by the daily.

“At the same time, Pramanik has the disorder of sexual development. In medical science not everything can be said in black and white. This case has shades of grey.  Pramanik does not have all the features that a normal adult male has,” he added.

The formed gold medallist had a horrid time in recent weeks. She was kept in a male jail, forced to take gender determination tests and even had an MMS clip released while undergoing one of these tests. The treatment meted out to her came under severe criticism from various avenues. All her gender tests were inconclusive and the courts deemed that she was ‘incapable’ of rape. 

Is Pinki male or female? The answer isn’t that simple.

The formed gold medalist had a horrid time in recent weeks. She was kept in a male jail, forced to take gender determination tests and even had an MMS clip released while undergoing one of these tests. The treatment meted out to her came under severe criticism from various avenues. All her gender tests were inconclusive and the courts deemed that she was ‘incapable’ of rape. 

Is Pinki male or female? The answer isn’t that simple.

Reports of a chromosomal test to determine Pramanik’s gender are also slated to be submitted before the court by the SSKM Hospital. An 11-member medical board was constituted to conduct the tests.Pramanik was arrested June 14 and remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by a court June 15 after the athlete’s live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint accusing the athlete of being a male who repeatedly “raped and tortured” her. 

Subsequent to the arrest, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports claimed that the athlete was indeed a male. Pramanik, however, claimed innocence and said it was a conspiracy. Pramanik, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4×400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. The runner was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.

Pinki’s case has drawn severe criticism from civil rights groups for her treatment. She was kept in a cell for male inmates and an MMS clip showing her naked was also circulated.