Age fraud in senior girls sprint event, athlete's results withheld

Thiruvananthapuram: A suspected case of age fraud has surfaced at the ongoing Kerala State School Sports Meet, involving Jyoti Upadhyay, a silver medalist in the senior girls' 100-metre and 200-metre races. The athlete, originally from Uttar Pradesh, is accused of misrepresenting her age to participate in the event.

Registration details on the Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association website show Jyoti's date of birth as May 4, 2004. However, her Aadhaar card submitted for school admission in Kerala lists her birth date as May 4, 2007, raising concerns over the authenticity of her age.

When her Aadhaar number was verified on the UIDAI portal, it was found to correspond to an individual aged between 20 and 30. This discrepancy has raised strong suspicion that the Aadhaar card may have been forged or tampered with.

Jyoti’s residence is registered in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. The address, however, on both the Aadhaar card and the Athletics Association documents is identical, with the only change being the year of birth. Interestingly, she is also using the same mobile number given for registration with the Uttar Pradesh Athletics Association.

Jyoti joined St Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Pullorampra, on October 6 this year, just days before the sub-district-level school sports meet began. School authorities have stated that Jyothi was admitted to Class 8 as requested by the student herself and that the Aadhaar card she produced was duly verified at the time of admission.

Following a complaint of age fraud, the Education Department has decided to withhold Jyoti’s race results. Education Minister V Sivankutty has announced that a probe will be conducted and legal action will be taken based on the findings.