Olympic rower asks Bombay HC to quash wife harassment charge

Mumbai: Asian Games medallist and Olympian Dattu Bhokanal approached the Bombay High Court on Tuesday seeking quashing of charges of harassing his wife. Bhokanal’s lawyer Vaibhav Gaikwad told a bench of justices Ranjit More and Bharati Dangre that the rower was scheduled to go to Austria next month to compete in the World Rowing Championship. Gaikwad told court that if the charges against him were not quashed, Bhokanal would not be able to participate in the competition. The bench will hear the plea in detail on Wednesday. In May, Bhokanal was booked by Nashik police under sections 498 A and 420 of the IPC on charges of cruelty and cheating, after his wife complained that he was harassing her mentally and physically. His wife is a constable with Nashik police. Bhokanal, a rower with the Army, is a resident of Nashik. He won gold in the 2018 Asian Games in Men’s Quadruple Sculls and is the country’s only rower to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics. (PTI)