Dipika Pallikal is a 22 year old Squash Player and an Arjuna Award Winner. She is the first Indian woman to break into the top 10 in the World Squash Ranking.
Recently, she sued Indian Banking Company Axis Bank for dishonoring her Debit Card and a cheque, which she deposited into her account.
Sources say that in November 2011, Dipika Pallikal was participating in Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Squash Open in Rotterdam, Holland. Before her first round match, she had to pay a bill of 490 euros (Rs 30,000) at a hotel. But despite having a balance of more than Rs 2 lakh in her Axis Bank account, the Debit Card transaction failed, with the card-reading device showing “link error”.
Dipika Pallikal has sued Axis Bank
The incident took place in front of international athletes causing embarrassment to her. Players from other countries also passed snide remarks on her credit-worthiness as well as about India.
She immediately contacted her mother, whose communication to the bank’s executive was unhelpful. Later, she had managed to use another debit card to settle the bill.
This was not the end of her nightmare. In 2012, she was awarded with the Arjuna Award by the President of India. She received a cheque of Rs 1 lakh from as the award money. When she submitted it to the Axis bank for clearance, it failed to credit the money into her account.
Reports say that the Axis Bank returned the cheque to her with remark `not drawn on us’. After a lot of communication, Axis Bank finally credited the amount, saying the instrument was returned due to technical error.
Dipika filed a case before the South Chennai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in 2012, claiming the humiliation affected her game, causing her to crash out in the first round of that tournament. “Not only was her personal glory and prestige jeopardised, (India’s) national glory also took a hit,” submitted her advocate Sanjay Pinto in court.
In her complaint Pallikal sought Rs.10 lakh as compensation for the loss of reputation.
While the case was being pursued, Axis Bank, in its affidavit said: “The very fact that the complainant is not able to take the slightest disturbance would prove that she lacks the requisite mental toughness of a world champion.”
It further said, “She is only making excuses for her non-performance and it is unfortunate and unethical to allege criminal acts on the bank for technical failure that took place in a foreign soil on which the bank has no control.”
It even alleged Dipika was attempting to “claim monetary benefits by illegal means”.
Dipika Pallikal, also known as Dipika Rebecca Pallikal was born on 21 September 1991 to Syrian Christian parents from Kerala in Chennai.
She played her first international tournament in London when she was in her sixth grade, and till date, Dipika has won the German Open, Dutch Open, French Open, Australian Open, Scottish Open on the European Junior Squash Circuit.
In January 2012,she became the first Indian ever to reach the summit clash of a Silver event when she reached the final of the Tournament of Champions squash meet in New York. In August same year, she went one step further when she reached the semifinals of a gold event, the 2012 Australian Open, another first for an Indian.