Coach runs to court for Budhia

Bhubaneswar: Budhia Singh, the four-year-old marathon runner from Orissa, hasn't stopped running into controversies.

On Monday, the state Government ordered a ban on his run after doctors declared him medically unfit.

The 13-page report submitted by a medical board stated, "If the boy continues to run for long distances, it may aggravate the condition, or may even result in renal failure as suggested in serum urea and serum potassium profile."

On Tuesday, his coach Biranchi Das annnounced he would file appeal for contempt of court case against the state Women and Child Welfare Minister Pramilla Mallick and the doctors who conducted the medical check up on Budhia.

Das claims that the check up was forcibly done in spite of a High Court stay on such an examination.

Das says that the medical examination was a conspiracy and claims that people would soon come to know that the report is baseless.

This is not the first time that Das, who had bought the young runner for Rs 800 from his widowed mother, has resorted to legal recourse to keep the four-year-old boy wonder on the tracks.

Last month he had filed a harassment case against the Child Welfare Committee in the Orissa High court.

Following this, the High Court had passed an interim order on May 4, 2006 putting a stay on any sort of examination of Budhia and his coach by the Child Welfare Committee till the next hearing.

But a day after the court’s order was passed, the Child Welfare Committee with the help of police forcibly subjected Budhia to a medical check up.

"I will file this case tomorrow against the minister, the doctors and the police who forcibly brought Budhia to the hospital," Das said.

However, Mallick says she did not receive any stay order from High Court and if any case is made against her she is ready to face it.

"What ever medical check up was done was for Budhia's benefit. We have not done anything wrong and if someone wants a legal battle, we are ready," says she.

Expressing shock over Budhia's marathon run, former sprint queen P T Usha has said that it amounted to risking the boy's life and wanted the Orissa Government to go ahead with restraining him from attempting such long-distance in future.

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"It is simply incredible. How can you permit a four-and-a-half-year-old boy to run 65 km when it is difficult for him to run even 1 km at this age," Usha said.

"Let us find out his real health condition and preserve his talent. If Budhia can run long distances at this age, he has to be protected and groomed for the future," she added.

Appealing to the Orissa Government to restrain the child from running such long distances at this age, Usha, who missed an Olympic bronze by a whisker when she was at her helm, said the boy's parents should wait for the right time to showcase his talent.

Meanwhile, after getting notice from the National Human Rights Commission the Additional DG of CRPF has started an enquiry on it's Orissa branch.

The government too is doing all it can to stop the child from running any more marathons for sometime at least. It is planning to put Budhia through a dope test.

If this is done, Budhia will probably be the youungest sportsperson in the world to undergo such a test.

The CRPF had sponsored Budhia's 65 km run on May 2 from Puri to Bhubaneswar after which the child collapsed.

The CRPF is upset about the probe, Budhia's coach is understandably upset with the ban and Budhia himself is disturbed with the government's decision, especially since his London tour scheduled for later this month has been cancelled.

“I am very upset with the decision. I just want to run and no one should stop me from doing so,” says the young marathon runner.

The ban might have been imposed on Budhia but the media limelight on the kid refuses to cease. Das says at least six other production houses are interested to make film on Budhia including one from Hollywood.

However, Das refused to give details to avoid controversies.

(With inputs from agencies)