Olympic Gold Winner and National Icon Neeraj Chopra has been receiving some very unpleasant questions from the Indian media – questions that make him uncomfortable, especially the ones that surround his personal life.
The personal questions started with Times Group Editor Navika Kumar asking him whether he had a girlfriend. To this, Neeraj had politely replied,
I only want to focus on my game right now.
Next came Red FM Radio jockey, Malishka Mendonsa and her female colleagues when they sparked a row following a clip of them dancing for Neeraj Chopra during their interview that went viral.
In the 45-second video, Mendonsa and some of her female colleagues were seen dancing to the song ‘uden jab jab zulfein teri‘ from the Bollywood movie Naya Daur. In the clip, Mendosa is also seen carrying a flower, which she gestures towards Chopra. Sharing the clip on Twitter, Mendonsa had written,
Ladiesssss..Yes I got the hard hitting, deep answers too but..Take the first 4 secs before the cam moves to the zoom call to guess who we are dancing.
The 23-year-old yet again faced an extremely personal question, this time from art historian Rajeev Sethi. What many on social media branded as “unprofessional” and “offensive”, to us, it was actually outraging modesty of a man.
During an ongoing interview, Sethi tried to quiz the Olympic medallist about his sex life. He asked,
Neeraj ji, Kitne Sundar Naujawan hai aap…..(you are a very good looking man)….How do you maintain a balance between your sex life and athletic training? I know this is a behuda (weird) question.
Stumped by the query, Neeraj said,
Sorry sir…I have said sorry, please understand…
Sethi still continues,
Sex to natural hai (sex is natural), how do you balance your athletic training with sex?
Neeraj concludes,
Aap ke question se mera mann bhar gaya (I am done with your question)…please…
If genders were reversed where any journalist would pose such a question to a female athlete, he/she would have been booked under Section 509.
Section 509 in The Indian Penal Code
509. Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.—Whoever, intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, or intrudes upon the privacy of such woman, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Unfortunately, gender laws in India are not gender neutral and Men have no recourse to protect their respect, modesty and dignity.
WATCH VIDEO –
Historian Rajeev Sethi To Neeraj Chopra | How Do You Balance Training & Sex Life?
Social media, including several sports journalists called out Sethi’s unethical and unprincipled questions for our national icon. Some of the reactions were as follows
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