A day after the State Sports Minister Arvind Pandey said that despite having proof of sportswomen being sexually harassed by those running the State-based sports associations, he would not disclose the name of such women to protect their social prestige, his predecessor and a senior Congress leader Dinesh Aggarwal said on Thursday that the State Government should bring things in the open by ordering a thorough probe instead of beating about the bush.
“This is an imperative as the matter brought into the public domain by no less than the Minister himself has made the parents of girls having sporting talents edgy. After what has come up thanks to the Minister, it is most unlikely that such parents would send their daughters for training, something that would harm the State, now aspiring to come up as a sporting hub, in the long run,” he said.
He, however, hastened to add that he was unaware of such incidents. “I never came to learn about such things during my stint as the State’s sports Minister. Had I been informed of such cases I would not have dithered over ordering a probe to get to the bottom of the matter,” Aggarwal said.
He further said that any type of harassment be it physical or mental is intolerable. “More so as a vigorous campaign is now going on to promote the girls.
If the State Government fails to have things probed it would be a blow to the movement of promoting the girls,” he added.
Meanwhile, the State Woman Commission is set to lodge FIRs once such complaints are brought to it. “We are trying to contact the woman boxer who accused her coach and Uttarakhand boxing association secretary of harassing her mentally.
Besides, the commission has written to the chief minister, demanding an inquiry into the Sports Minister Arvind Pandey’s recent revelation,” said the secretary State Woman Commission Ramindri Mandrawal.
Sources said that the video on which the women boxer was caught alleging while addressing the sports minister harassment by her coach is an old one. “It is not even clear whether the sports minister she talked to is the present minister Arvind Pandey or his predecessor Dinesh Aggarwal,” sources said.