The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by the Wrestling Federation of India against the Delhi High Court order allowing wrestler Vinesh Phogat to participate in selection trials, describing its as infructuous in view of subsequent developments.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar declined to examine the high court’s observations, clarifying that the apex court should not be treated as having endorsed the findings made in the impugned order.
The bench said all issues in the matter were left open.
Appearing for the WFI, senior advocate DN Goburdhun informed the court that Phogat had participated in the selection trials but failed to qualify.
"She did not succeed but she created havoc over there," the senior counsel told the bench.
The court observed that the issue had now become infructuous.
Goburdhun argued that certain remarks made by the high court against the federation’s decisions, describing them as “malafide” and “deplorable” ought to be set aside as the matter remained pending before a single-judge bench.
"All these observations will have to go as the matter is pending before the single bench," the senior counsel submitted.
The top court, however, left the questions open and disposed of the plea as infructuous.
On May 29, the Supreme Court had allowed Phogat to participate in the selection trials held on May 30 and 31 for the 2026 Asian Games.
The WFI had challenged the Delhi High Court’s May 22 order allowing the wrestler to take part in the trials.
The top court had also expressed concern over the manner in which the high court dealt with the matter.
On May 22, a division bench of the high court had given its nod to the participation of Phogat in the upcoming trials for the Asian Games, saying the WFI's selection policy was exclusionary for the lack of discretion to consider an iconic player like her, returning from a maternity break.
The high court ordered that the selection trials would be video-recorded by the WFI and an independent observer from the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association each would remain present.
It had said the standard for the selection trials marks significant deviation from the past practice, which provided for discretion for the selection of iconic players for the Asian Games, and added that the law must ensure that motherhood does not become a ground to exclude female athletes like Phogat.
Motherhood, it had asserted, cannot be treated as a professional impediment or a circumstance warranting adverse treatment.
The high court had further observed that grounds taken by the WFI in the May 9 show-cause notice to Phogat "appear to be pre-mediated and reopening the closed issues" and that "it is necessary that the appellant is permitted to participate in the selection trials in the interest of the sport and justice".
It had also taken exception to the WFI terming Phogat's disqualification in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games a "national embarrassment" in the show-cause notice, stating that such a statement was "deplorable", "ex-facie misconceived" and "ought to have been avoided".
It had passed the order on Phogat's appeal against a May 18 order of a single-judge bench that had denied her immediate relief on the issue of her participation in the selection trials.
Earlier this month, the WFI had declared Phogat ineligible to participate in domestic events till June 26, citing the mandatory six-month notice period linked to athletes returning from retirement under anti-doping rules.
A defiant Phogat, however, showed up at the National Open Ranking Tournament in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda.
Phogat had participated in a protest staged by women wrestlers in 2023 against alleged sexual harassment by the then WFI president and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
In August 2024, Phogat was disqualified from the 50-kg category Olympic finals for being 100 gm overweight in the morning weigh-in.
(With inputs from PTI)
