A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Aravind Kumar declined to review the high court’s remarks but clarified that their court was not reaffirming the previous findings.
Without ordering the removal of any “objectionable” comments from the high court ruling, the bench stated that all issues remain open and dismissed the WFI’s petition. Senior advocate DN Goburdhun, representing the WFI, noted that although Phogat was permitted to compete in the selection trials, she did not achieve success.
“She did not succeed, but she caused quite an uproar there,” the senior counsel remarked to the bench.
The bench responded that the matter had become irrelevant.
Goburdhun pointed out several observations made by the high court regarding the federation’s decisions, which were labeled as “mala fide” and “deplorable”.
“All these comments need to be removed since the matter is still pending before a single bench,” he added.
The Supreme Court then left the questions open and dismissed the plea as unnecessary.
On May 29, the Supreme Court allowed Phogat to participate in the selection trials scheduled for May 30 and 31 for the 2026 Asian Games.
The WFI had contested the Delhi High Court order from May 22 that permitted Phogat’s participation in the trials.
The Supreme Court had also expressed concern over how the high court handled the situation.
On May 22, a division bench of the high court approved Phogat’s involvement in the upcoming trials for the Asian Games, stating that the WFI’s selection policy was exclusionary and lacked discretion for an iconic player like her returning from maternity leave.
The high court mandated that the selection trials be video-recorded, with an independent observer from both the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Olympic Association present.
It noted that the standards for these trials significantly deviated from prior practices, which allowed discretion for selecting prominent athletes for the Asian Games, insisting that motherhood should not be a reason to exclude female competitors like Phogat.
The court affirmed that motherhood cannot be seen as a barrier or a justifiable reason for adverse treatment.
Additionally, the high court remarked that the grounds presented by the WFI in the May 9 show-cause notice to Phogat “seemed pre-mediated” and risked reopening settled issues, emphasizing that her participation in the selection trials is essential for the sport and justice.
The high court was also critical of the WFI’s characterization of Phogat’s disqualification from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as a “national embarrassment,” calling the assertion “deplorable,” “ex-facie misconceived,” and inappropriate.
This order was issued in response to Phogat’s appeal against a May 18 decision from a single-judge bench that denied her immediate relief regarding her participation in the selection trials.
Earlier in the month, the WFI had announced Phogat’s ineligibility to compete in domestic events until June 26, citing the mandatory six-month notice period for athletes returning from retirement under anti-doping regulations.
Nonetheless, Phogat defiantly participated in the National Open Ranking Tournament in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
Phogat had previously taken part in a protest by women wrestlers in 2023 against alleged sexual harassment by the then-WFI president and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
In August 2024, she was disqualified from the Olympic finals in the 50-kg category for being 100 grams over the weight limit during the morning weigh-in.
