Former India hockey captain and real life protagonist of ‘Chak De! India’ files for domestic violence

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Image Courtesy: Getty/Catch News

Back in 2007, the Bollywood movie ‘Chak De! India’ was released, the blockbuster movie starring the iconic Shah Rukh Khan that helped the Indian audience rediscover their love for the national sport. The movie, which depicted the Indian women’s national field hockey team’s road to glory, was inspired from the life of Suraj Lata Devi, the former real-life captain national squad. Thirteen years later, the Manipuri legend is making the headlines again, after she charged her husband Ksh Shantakumar of domestic violence.

Image Courtesy: Getty/Catch News

In 2005, Suraj Lata tied the knots with Shantakumar, who is also a former hockey player from Manipur. However, she started facing physical assault and mental torture for a long time, but finally begun to file multiple domestic abuse cases against her better half since last year.

At first, Suraj Lata decided not to make the news of the abuse public because of her two children. However, at a press conference on Wednesday, the former national captain finally came out and shared the violence she was facing from her husband.

Suraj Lata’s greatest achievement was winning gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the event which inspired the movie. She subsequently clinched two more gold in the following years, at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games and then at the 2004 Hockey Asia Cup. However, she said that the medals were a subject of ridicule for Shantakumar.

“My husband ridiculed me when I brought all the medals and photos that I had won on the day of my marriage and had remarked what use would it serve?”

Additionally, the Arjuna Award winner also said that her husband accused her for being  promiscuous and immoral for receiving the award.

Despite deciding to keep her husband’s behaviour secrets at first, Suraj Lata finally made things public in 2019. “I never wanted the matter to become public. However, there is always a limit to someone’s patience and tolerance,” she added.

Back in November, she filed her first police complaint against Shantakumar, after facing a traumatic abuse from him during a trip to Punjab, which resulted in Suraj Lata getting hospitalised.

“I somehow managed to flee and reached Imphal on November 14. After getting myself treated at the JNIMS Hospital in Imphal,” she added.

Following the unfortunate incident, Suraj Lata decided to file a domestic abuse complaint on 16th November in Imphal, and another one in January at the Heingang police station in Imphal East. However, as the incident took place in Kapurthala, Punjab, the police had asked her to file the case there.

On 15th February, Suraj Lata filed a complain against her husband at the Sultanpur Lodhi police station in Kapurthala.

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