Budhia Singh’s coach Biranchi Das and his mother Sukanti Singh seem to be heading for an intense legal battle over the child marathoner’s custody with Mr Das indicating after his release from the prison that he may soon be moving to the court of law to bring his protege back to his fold.
Mr Das who was arrested by the Bhubaneswar police last Monday on the basis of a complaint filed by Budhia’s mother, was released from the Jharpada jail here on Friday after a local court granted him bail on a second case (not related to Budhia) slammed by the police.
He had already been granted bail in the Budhia case on Thursday but had to stay behind bars for one more day because of the second case.
“I had legally adopted Budhia and therefore I have got every right to go to the court of law for his custody”, Mr Das said on Saturday.
According to Mr Das, he intends to bring back Budhia because he feels his protege’s growth, both physically and psychologically, would be severely affected if he continued to stay in a slum for long. The child prodigy is currently staying in Salia Sahi, a major Bhubaneswar slum, along with his mother and sisters.
Reacting to the coach’s statement, Budhia’s mother has made it clear that she would not hand over her son to Mr Das under any circumstances.
“I have given birth to Budhia and I have a right to look after him. I am not going to handover him to Biranchi”, Mrs Singh has said adding that if the government did not come forward to help her son then she will make arrangements for her son’s upbringing on her own.
The state government has already stated that it intends to house Budhia in a government run sports hostel.
Significantly, Budhia’s mother has also gone on record saying that she was never trying to sell her son as claimed by Mr Das. The coach has all along been saying that he had stepped in and rescued Budhia when he was a small kid, when his mother was about to sell him after his father’s demise. Legal experts feel that this aspect may come up in the court in the event of a legal battle over Budhia’s custody.
