12-year old Shraddha Shukla‘s 570 km (346 mi) swim has become controversial after a documentary-maker filmed her sitting in the boat more than swimming, according to The Indian Express.
The swim has become increasingly controversial after documentary journalist Vinod Kapri alleged that Shradda’s father, Lalit Shukla, has threatened him. After seven days of filming Shraddha’s journey, Kapri questioned her father as to why she was spending so much time in the boats. Kapri says he has footage of Shraddha riding in the boat with her father rather than swimming. It was after obtaining this footage that Lalit allegedly threatened Kapri.
In response, Kapri filed a complaint with police about the threats. Lalit too has filed a complaint that Kapri was filming without the necessary permission. Kapri however, claims that he was given permission to film. As a result of this dispute, both Kapri and Lalit are being provided security by police until they both leave Mirzapur.
In addition to the filming controversy, there have also been reports that this swim is violating the rights of the 12-year old girl. As a result, the UTTAR Pradesh State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (UPSCPCR) has been investigating the alleged violation. The UPSCPCR said they are looking into all aspects of this, including as to whether Shraddha’s father has actually violated any child rights.
Lalit says that Shraddha was the one to take up this challenge. She intends to swim 70 km (about 43 miles) per day.
Her father assures that they are taking all safety precautions possible. He reports that Shraddha has spent more than ample time preparing for the journey. She has been swimming since she was three and has spent the past two months training for this swim. There is a net strung between two boats that is underneath Shraddha at all times to ensure she doesn’t go too deep. Every few kilometers they pull her out of the water to give her water and food. There is a doctor traveling with the group to attend to Shraddha and make sure she remains healthy during the tour.
Despite Lalita describing these safety precautions, the UPSCPCR is still investigating the situation.
apparently she rode in the boat most of the time…
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/uttar-pradesh-child-panel-order-probe-shraddha-shukla-swimmer-vinod-kapri-filmmaker-case-using-boat-3015516/
This is a huge fraud. If this is the video of the girl attempting this https://youtu.be/RT2BpZ8V6BQ?t=102 then she would be lucky to swim a 30 minute mile with that horrible stroke and her head up–no goggles. The two month training prep is a joke and the daily distance is a joke. Hats off to this film maker exposing this as a shame, because it clearly is. Therefore there is no violation of this girls rights, as she is not really swimming, she is riding in the boat and for some reason her father wants to claim the distance. Weird!
What the heck do they mean by “a net strung between two boats that is underneath Shraddha at all times to ensure she doesn’t go too deep”?
Well, he is abusing her, but does not want her to drown. She is obviously a bad swimmer (if that is her on the youtube video).
I am now thinking of changing from PsychoDad to PsychoNotCountingIndiansDad.
Uh, she has been preparing for the last two months for this swim? And swimming since she was 3? Wow, someone pull this poor kid from the water, arrest the father for at minimum being an idiot and taking advantage of a child, add child abuse physical and mental, coaching without a license, oh there are just so many things wrong here.
The former famous Indian child ultra marathoner swimmer committed suicide .
Keeping the kids active though and fighting back childhood obesity.
Her father says she’s spent more than enough time training for it and she’s trained for… two months… WHAT?! I wouldn’t attempt anything like that with two YEARS of training for that.
To put this into perspective, the men’s record for a double crossing of the English Channel (21 miles each direction) is 16 hours, 10 minutes, and that’s about how far she is saying she’ll swim every day. Beyond that – triple crossings, etc. – the pace falls off dramatically the further you swim without rest. So you have to assume she’ll eat and take at least several hours to recover.
So basically we are expected to believe that a 12-year-old girl is going to match the men’s world record for endurance swimming every day for a week straight. No, that does not seem even remotely plausible.
On the one hand, swimming 42 miles downstream on the Ganges River probably requires considerably less effort than a double Channel crossing. Don’t know what the current flow speed is, but I presume you could make pretty good distance in 16 hours simply by floating. On the other hand, after watching the video, I doubt that girl has the ability to even float 16 hours a day, much less swim. And I can’t imagine spending 16 hours a day in water that polluted for a week can be anything other than a tremendous health risk. The Ganges makes the water in and off the coast of Rio look clean.
What a great twist! Came for the controversy over overtraining youths. Stayed for the legal drama.