A sixteen-year-old female athlete died and three of her fellow athletes were battling for life on Thursday after consuming poisonous fruits under an apparent suicide pact following alleged harassment by seniors at the Water Sports Centre of the Sports Authority of India in Alappuzha, Kerala. The Sports Ministry ordered an enquiry and directed the SAI Director General to rush to Alappuzha.
The four girls were suspected to have eaten poisonous fruit Othalanga on Wednesday afternoon. One of them, Aparna, daughter of Panakkal Ramabhadran of Aryad, Alappuzha, died at the Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha around 3.30 am on Thursday. She had taken part in several national events. The condition of two girls was said to be critical. One of the athletes had won Gold in the National Games in kayaking.
Relatives of the girls alleged that they had been facing physical and mental torture from the seniors in the hostel. A relative of Aparna said, “Her coach had hit her with an oar two days ago. She was unable to stand or sit due to this. When a complaint was made to the hostel authorities, they seem not to care at all.” Another relative said that the girls had been suffering inhuman torture and the warden had refused to take their complaints seriously.
The Sports Ministry swung into action by ordering an enquiry and directing SAI Director General Injeti Srinivas to rush to Kerala for on-the-spot assessment. Srinivas was expected to meet the relatives of the girls, local SAI authorities and others on Friday morning. Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sarbananda Sonowal expressed condolences to the family of the deceased girl
The lok Sabha witnessed Opposition members raising a strong demand for a probe into the incident. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, MB Rajesh of the CPI(M) said the shocking incident should be an eye-opener and the Government should seriously look into the conditions in sports hostels, including those run by SAI. Rajesh was supported by several members including KC Venugopal and Kodikkunnil Suresh of the Congress.
A suicide note written jointly by the four girls reportedly said that they were pained by the threats offered by seniors, who had harassed them by making a big issue out of a silly fault of theirs. However, the hostel warden rejected allegations of torture and harassment. “Nobody had harassed them here. There was no such complaint,” she said.
According to the local police, the four girls could have consumed poisonous fruit at about 3.00 pm on Wednesday but they were taken to hospital only after 9.00 pm after they vomited and fainted. Alappuzha District Collector N Padmakumar said that the delay in providing treatment could have led to the death of Aparna. The girls were suspected to have consumed a total of 12 poisonous fruits.
An official at the Alappuzha North Police Station, under whose limits the SAI centre came, said the girls attempted the extreme step because they were unable to bear the humiliation of being harassed by seniors for their “silly fault' of consuming beer. He said the young athletes could have been scolded after they were found in an inebriated condition. But relatives said that the SAI centre authorities had been informed of harassment by seniors much earlier.
The local police have registered a case of unnatural death in the case of Aparna. Inspector General of Police (Ernakulam Range) MR Ajithkumar, who received an order for probe from the State Home Minister, said that the DySP (Crime Branch) of Alappuzha district would carry out an investigation into the incident under the supervision of the Superintendent of Police.
Kerala Sports Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan visited the Medical College Hospital where the athletes were undergoing treatment and said that Sports Secretary M Sivasankaran would hold an enquiry into the incident. Stating that the Government would bear the entire expenses for treatment of the girls, he said the family of the deceased girl would be given financial assistance.