Former women hockey captain accuses husband of domestic violence

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, February 18

A former women hockey player, who captained the winning Indian team in the 2002 Commonwealth games, has alleged that she was a victim of domestic violence and lodged a police complaint against her husband, a former Punjab-based hockey player himself.

The 2002 victory had inspired Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Chak De India’ five years later.

According to a report in Amar Ujala, Suraj Lata Devi registered a case alleging that her husband Shanta Kumar Singh had “tied” and “brutally thrashed her till she lost consciousness” at the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala in November last year, where the couple had been staying. She alleged that Singh had been demanding dowry from her on earlier occasions as well.

The hockey player, however, filed the complaint only on January 10 at Manipur’s Heingang police station. The case was later shifted to the Sultanpur Lodhi police station in Punjab under whose jurisdiction the alleged scene of offence falls.

Devi led the Indian team to gold for three consecutive years--the 2002 Commonwealth Games, 2003 Afro-Asian Games and 2004 Hockey Asia Cup. She was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award in 2003.