Veteran sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi passes away
New Delhi (PTI): Veteran sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi, who covered several highs and lows of Indian sports in a career spanning over four decades, served as the national Olympic contingent's press attache in 2012 and charmed the media box with his inimitable wit and warmth, died after prolonged illness here on Saturday.
He was 72 and is survived by his wife Revathi and daughter Pallavi.
The former sports editor of the United News of India (UNI) was among the tallest figures in Indian sports journalism and was working as a consulting editor of the Statesman newspaper for the last couple of years.
His awe-inspiring work experience included on-ground coverage of eight Olympic Games, "hard to count" Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, World Cups of cricket and hockey, and world and national championships of athletics and other major Olympic sports.
Not to be forgotten was his ability to be a mentor to young journalists in the press box. He could make nervous newbies comfortable with his trademark humour.
"Harpal Singh Bedi was a quintessential newsman, loved and respected...," said veteran journalist and sports administrator G Rajaraman as he paid tributes to his former colleague.
"His finger was on the pulse of Indian sport and sports administration," Rajaraman, who will be India's press attache at the upcoming Paris Olympics, told PTI.
A close friend of Bishan Singh Bedi, he was also often mistaken for the late Indian spin great.
"We are close friends you know, I am BSB, he is HSB. We go back a long way," the former India captain, who passed away in 2023 after battling multiple health problems, had told this correspondent once.
An alumnus of the prestigious Jawahar Lal Nehru University, where he did his Masters and M. Phil from the School of International Studies, Bedi was considered a father figure in sports journalism by his colleagues.
He was witness to the change and growth in the country's sporting landscape from the time P T Usha attained worldwide fame with her fourth place finish in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to the epoch-making gold medal that Abhinav Bindra won in the 2008 Beijing Games.
Bedi's fame also transcended borders and he became a popular figure with Pakistani journalists when he toured the country with the Indian cricket teams in 2004 and 2005. He quite literally became a story for the local journalists for his jovial personality.
"His understanding of the Indo-Pak relationship was at par with the best foreign affairs experts," Rajaram recalled.
Senior Pakistani sports journalist Rasheed Shakoor was among those who befriended Bedi during these tours.
"Unke paas khabron ke saath saath lateefon ka bhi khazana hota tha (He was a treasure trove of both news and jokes)," Shakoor told PTI.
"His was such a jolly personality. It was so easy to become his friend. I once wrote a piece about how he was mistaken for Bishan Singh Bedi and was interviewed by a TV channel.
"I called him for a comment and I remember he laughed so much and made fun of me for writing about it. Bohot hi pyaare insaan, jo respect dete the, aur badle mein unhe bohot respect milti thi (He was a lovely human being. He gave respect to others and also earned a lot of respect)."
The only recorded instances of Bedi not being his jovial self in the press box were the times when the Indian hockey team performed poorly.
A passionate follower of the sport, Bedi could be seen muttering under his breath in frustration while furiously typing his reports much to the amusement of his colleagues.
"The only journalist I knew who could laugh at himself. The press box will not be the same without him," said Vijay Lokapally, the former senior editor of 'The Hindu'.
However, Bedi's health had deteriorated in the past one year and he mostly kept to himself.
"Harpal Singh Bedi ji, the most cheerful among sports journalists, is no longer among us. Rest in peace," 2008 Olympic bronze-winning boxer Vijender Singh posted on his social media page, offering his tributes.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
