Supreme Court provides interim relief to badminton star Lakshya Sen in age fraud case; know what’s the controversy all about

The Supreme Court has issued a notice in a petition filed by badminton player Lakshya Sen. Lakshya had challenged the Karnataka High Court’s order rejecting his plea to quash an investigation into the allegation that the shuttler forged his documents to participate in junior badminton tournaments. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran issued the notice, staying coercive steps in the case. The matter will next be heard on April 16.

Complaint
Earlier, the Karnataka HC ruled that there was primary evidence warranting an investigation into the case. The case is based on a complaint filed by MG Nagaraj, who alleged that Lakshya’s parents, Dhirendra and Nirmala Sen, along with his brother Chirag Sen (also a badminton player), coach U Vimal Kumar, and an employee of the Karnataka Badminton Association, were involved in fabricating documents.

As per the complaint, the accused allegedly manipulated the birth certificates of Lakshya and Chirag, reducing their age by roughly two-and-a-half years – a move intended to allow them to participate in age-restricted badminton tournaments and avail government benefits.

Nagaraj supported his claims with documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and requested the court to summon original records from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Police case
Based on the abovementioned evidence, the court directed the High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru to conduct an investigation into the complaint.

The police then filed a First Information Report (FIR) under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 420 (relating to cheating), 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine). 

Counter-allegations
However, Lakshya and his family moved the Karnataka High Court in 2022, securing an interim order that paused the police investigation.

They argued that the complaint and the subsequent police case were baseless and intended to harass them. They said the complainant was acting out of personal vendetta, claiming that his daughter had applied to join the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in 2020 but was not selected.

Other details
In 2016, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had suspended Chirag for allegedly lying about his age. While one of his documents mentioned his birth year as 1998, he participated in junior tournaments citing 2005 as his birth year, reports said.

Lakshya – a former World Junior No. 1 player – has won a bronze medal at the World Championships and is a silver medalist at the Asian Games. He was part of the Indian squad at the 2024 Paris Olympics but lost the semifinal match to Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen.