Kerala policewoman wins two gold medals in World Arm Wrestling Competition
Kozhikode (Kerala), (PTI): When ASI Mini Raju won a 2018 district-level arm wrestling competition organised here by Kerala Police Association after entering it at the last moment, little did she know that four years down the line she would make India proud by winning a double gold in the World Arm Wrestling Competition held at Turkey recently.
Another feather in her cap is that she was also the captain of the 43-member Indian team that participated in the world sporting event and bagged 13 medals -- three gold, five silver and five bronze -- a haul which was a first for the country at the competition, according to Raju.
Of the 13 medals, eight were won by arm wrestlers from Kerala, she added.
"Every year, India used to send a 40-45 member contingent to the competition and used to come back with one or two medals. This is the first time we won so many medals. Also after 1979, I am the first one to win double gold for the country at the event," Raju told PTI.
Raju, prior to entering the world of arm wrestling, was a state-level athlete who participated in the 100 and 200 metre heats and long-jump events and won medals.
She joined the police force in 2001 and continued to participate in athletic events, Raju said. However, an accident in 2008 which damaged the ligament in her leg ended her athletic career.
In 2018, when she went to see an arm wrestling competition organised by the Kerala Police Association's Kozhikode district unit, she decided to participate in the event and "probably due to my background in sports I had the strength required to win there".
"Thereafter, I participated in an open district-level arm wrestling competition where I defeated several seasoned opponents and emerged as champion and strong woman in the district," she said.
From then, there was no looking back and she went on to win gold, in the right and left arm categories, at the state-level competitions and then bronze at the national level, she said.
In just a short span of four years after entering the sport, she went on to lead the Indian team at the World Arm Wrestling Competition, held at Turkey from October 14-23, where the country won 13 medals.
"All this was possible due to the support of my family, especially my husband. He is the driving force behind me. He takes me to the Evolution Gym at 5 AM and then again in the evening after our duty ends for the day. He also practices with me," Raju said.
Her husband, also an ASI, however, does not participate in the sporting event.
Raju's coach is Roshith, who runs the gym where she practices and is also a national-level referee of the sport, she said.
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Indian-American couple sentenced to prison for forcing relative to work at gas station
Washington, Jun 26: A US court has sentenced an Indian-American couple to prison for coercing their relative to work at their gas station and convenience store for over three years by bringing him to the United States on the pretext of helping enrol him in a school.
Harmanpreet Singh, 31, was sentenced to 135 months (11.25 years) in prison and Kulbir Kaur, 43, to 87 months (7.25 years) by the court that also asked them to pay the victim, his cousin, USD 225,210.76 (Rs 1.87 crores approximately) in restitution.
The couple has since divorced.
"The defendants exploited their relationship with the victim to lure him to the United States with false promises that they would help enrol him in school," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said.
"The defendants confiscated the victim's immigration documents and subjected him to threats, physical force and mental abuse to coerce him to work long hours for minimal pay," she said.
"This sentence should send a strong message that such forced labour will not be tolerated in our communities," she added.
US Attorney Jessica D Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia said the defendants preyed on the victim's earnest desire to attain an education and improve his life.
Instead, they deprived him of the most basic human needs and robbed him of his freedom, the attorney said.
The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that in 2018, the defendants enticed the victim, Singh's cousin and then a minor, to travel to the US from India with false promises of helping enrol him in school, the Department of Justice said.
It said that after the victim arrived in the US, the defendants took his immigration documents and instead forced him to provide labour and services at Singh's store for over three years, between March 2018 and May 2021.
Singh and Kaur compelled the victim to work at the store, including cleaning, cooking, stocking and handling the cash register and store records, between 12 and 17 hours a day, nearly every day, for minimal pay, according to the evidence presented during the trial.
They used various coercive means, including confiscating the victim's immigration documents and subjecting the victim to physical abuse, threats of force and other serious harm, and, at times, degrading living conditions to compel him to continue working, the evidence showed.
The couple left the victim at the store to sleep in a back office for days on multiple occasions, limited his access to food, refused to provide medical care or education, used surveillance equipment to monitor the victim both at the store and in their home, refused his requests to return to India and made him overstay his visa, according to the evidence.
The defendants also forced the victim to marry Kaur and used that marriage to threaten to take the victim's family's properties or falsely report him to the police if he left.
The evidence also showed that Singh pulled the victim's hair, slapped and kicked him when he requested his immigration documents back or tried to leave. On three different occasions, he threatened the victim with a revolver for trying to take a day off and for trying to leave.
