LONDON, Feb 5: A female golf enthusiast of Indian descent is pursuing legal action against her golf club in southwest London, seeking approximately GBP 37,500 in damages over her alleged unfair expulsion due to accusations of cheating in a tournament.
As reported in UK media outlets, Rina Rohilla was removed from the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club (RMS) following a competition in 2019, but she asserts that the true motive behind her expulsion was a “personal dislike” harbored by other members.
The insolvency practitioner, who has been a club member for 16 years, faced allegations that she had erased and re-entered her scores for two holes, resulting in her overall score being reduced by two strokes after a tournament. The ongoing trial at Central London County Court is focused on obtaining an injunction to reverse Rohilla’s expulsion.
As reported by ‘The Telegraph’, she denies any wrongdoing and contends that the decision to expel her was influenced by “unconscious bias” related to her ethnicity.
In her testimony, Rohilla informed the judge that, although she was not familiar with all members of the expulsion committee, they approached the decision with “a perception that I was difficult or people didn’t like me.”
Barrister Paul Nicholls, representing the club, questioned her: “Are you still suggesting that those who made the decision did so based on your race?”
She responded: “I believe there was an element of that, yes.”
When informed that two committee members were of Indian origin, she pointed out that not once in over a century had a club captain been a “person of color”.
She denied any manipulation of the scorecard, telling the judge that she deemed the midweek competition, which had a GBP 25 prize, insignificant, and would not risk lowering her handicap for more critical weekend contests.
The court also heard that golf represented her “entire life” beyond work, and her expulsion has led to “severe mental distress, anxiety and disappointment,” as well as a “loss of reputation through being labeled a dishonest cheat.”
The club is contesting her claims and argued that its committee was “clearly entitled to determine that the claimant had altered her scores and thus cheated.” 9PTI)
