Imphal (PTI): Ace boxer Mary Kom's husband Onler Karong has sparked a controversy after he expressed dissatisfaction over the looks of a statue of his wife, which was recently erected at a park near here.

Nineteen statues of the state's Olympians, including that of Mary Kom, were recently installed at Manipur Olympic Park.

Onler Karong, in an interview with a local newspaper, claimed that the statue, which was erected at the Park, does not look like his wife, six times World Women's Boxing Champion and 2012 London Olympic bronze medalist.

Neither Onler Karong nor Mary Kom could be contacted despite repeated efforts.

However, while talking to PTI, Kom’s brother Jimmy Kom claimed that the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) assured him that the statue will be replaced before the inauguration of the park, the date of which is yet to be fixed.

When contacted, officials of the CMO told PTI that they will not speak about the issue. "It is his (Onler) personal opinion," Jimmy said.

Jimmy said his sister returned home from a tour and got to know about the development only on Wednesday, he said.

"There is a concern that Onler's statement might be misinterpreted as the statues were installed to honour our state's athletes," Jimmy said.

Two days back, before the matter came to the fore, Chief Minister N Biren Singh had on his official Facebook page said that the Park "is all set for inauguration. Everyone can now witness the statues of our legendary Olympians, the pride of our Nation."

"The Manipur Olympian Park was constructed in honour of our Olympians from Manipur who have brought laurels for the Nation. Not only will this place become a major tourist attraction but also inspire the youths to achieve greater heights in life," Singh had said in a separate post.

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New Delhi (PTI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has also approached the Supreme Court challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.

Meanwhile, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan has listed for hearing on April 16 ten other petitions, including the one filed by AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, challenging the validity of the law.

Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Zia-ur-Rahman Barq, had recently also filed a plea on the issue in the apex court.

Moitra, who filed her plea on April 9, has said the controversial amendment not only suffered from serious procedural lapses but also violated several fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

“It is submitted that the violation of parliamentary practices during the law-making process has contributed to the unconstitutionality of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025,” the plea said.

“Procedurally, the Chairperson of the Joint Parliamentary Committee flouted parliamentary rules and practices both at the stage of consideration and adoption of the draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill and at the stage of presentation of the said report before Parliament,” it said.

The plea said that dissenting opinions from the opposition MPs were reportedly redacted without justification from the final report presented in Parliament on February 13, 2025.

Such actions undermined the deliberative process of Parliament and violated established norms as outlined in authoritative parliamentary procedure manuals, it said.

The plea said the new law allegedly infringed upon Articles 14 (equality before the law), 15(1) (non-discrimination), 19(1)(a) and (c) (freedom of speech and association), 21 (right to life and personal liberty), 25 and 26 (freedom of religion), 29 and 30 (minority rights), and Article 300A (right to property) of the Constitution.

Moitra sought striking down of the Act in its entirety, citing its procedural irregularities and substantive violations of the Constitution.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, AAP leader Amanatullah Khan, Association for the Protection of Civil Rights, Arshad Madani, Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, Anjum Kadari, Taiyyab Khan Salmani, Mohammad Shafi, Mohammed Fazlurrahim and RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha have also moved the top court on the issue.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress MPs Imran Pratapgarhi and Mohammad Jawed are other key petitioners in the case.