Raipur Mayor Kiranmayi Nayak and State unit chief of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (sports wing) Gurmeet Dhanai on Thursday demanded that a female coach must be appointed in every sports association for the safety of female players.
The demand came in the wake of an alleged sexual harassment that was reported from Bhilai on Wednesday. Four female players of Kho-Kho team accused the coaches in Chhattisgarh Kho-Kho Association of sexually harassing them. They claimed coaches had been harassing them for over two years but it had become ‘intolerable’ since a fortnight. According to police, a case has been registered against general secretary of the Association S Ramu, office bearers Jagbandhu Jena and Murli Reddy.
“We do not want that after this incident, parents get scared for safety of their daughters and discourage them for taking up a career in sports. Only a stern action against the culprits will do justice,” said Nayak.
They also demanded that the accused Kho-Kho association be either blacklisted or dissolved and strict punishment is meted out to Ram. “Sports Minister, Secretary and Director must take responsibility of this and resign from their posts on moral grounds,” said Dhanai. Taking a pot shot at Raman Singh-led BJP Government in the State, Dhanai said that besides a hat trick win in Assembly elections, Singh has also made a hat trick in ignoring issues troubling the sportsperson of the state, especially female.
Chhattisgarh is set to host National Games this year but the incident raises a question mark on the safety of women players in the state, let alone the guests sportspersons. Earlier too, players like Saba Anjum, lata Sahu, Anita Shinde had faced safety issues in the state. “If sportsperson are forced to fight this battle on their own without support from politicians, when are they supposed to focus on sportsIJ” questioned Dhanai. The three office bearers of the Kho-Kho association have been accused of asking undue favours, making indecent advances and showing porn clips to the players.
