New Delhi, June 30: A woman coach with the Sports Authority of India’s National Boxing Academy in Rohtak has been accused of sexual harassment by a minor pugilist, who according to the FIR filed by her parents, has slipped into depression because of repeated “mental and physical abuse”.
When reached for a comment, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) acknowledged receiving a complaint from the 17-year-old victim about intimidation and incidents of slapping but denied being told about sexual harassment as alleged in the FIR.
Both the bodies said that their internal investigations did not find any evidence against the coach, who is continuing to play a leading role in conducting the national camp for junior and youth boxers at this point.
In her FIR lodged at a Rohtak police station, the victim has stated that the coach tried to forcibly remove her clothes once, slapped her on multiple occasions, threatened to ruin her career and called her a “person of bad character” in front of other boxers leading to her isolation.
The complaint against the coach has been registered under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita’s section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) along with Protection of Children from Sexual Abuse act’s section 10 (aggravated sexual assault).
SAI said it would assist in the investigations as and when required.
The girl’s parents have stated that they are not satisfied with the BFI’s handling of the matter.
Describing in detail the abuse she was allegedly subjected to, the victim’s parents said that during the tour of Ireland, the coach humiliated the boxer and went on to molest her as well.
“This coach had tried to touch her inappropriately in the past too but my child could not understand her actions at that time,” the FIR alleged.
The parents said that the victim was also punished with strenuous physical exercise after failing to record a (training) video as demanded by the coach.
“She apologised to the coach for not recording the video as well as the coach desired and requested her to do the seconding (coaching assistance during bouts) for her in the fight.
“But the coach did not go with her for the fight and did not allow any other coach to accompany her either. She even stopped my daughter’s fellow boxers from helping or supporting her during the bout. We have CCTV footage to prove that my daughter was alone in the ring.”
The parents alleged that the boxer, who won two national-level gold medals despite her difficult circumstances, was also molested by the coach.
“The coach accused my daughter of talking excessively to boys. She called other boxers, insulted her in front of them and asked her to bring her phone. When my daughter headed to her room to do as instructed, she followed her inside and tried to touch her inappropriately after locking the room from inside,” the FIR states.
“She tried to forcibly take off my daughter’s clothes and when she resisted and pushed her, the coach repeatedly slapped her. She then dragged her to the training hall and asked my daughter to give in writing that she had two phones and was using one of them to talk to boys,” they alleged.
The parents said that the girl was slapped on refusing to abide by the instructions.
However, SAI has said that during their investigation, none of the other boxers on the tour backed this assertion and maintained that no such incident took place in their presence.
The parents said they came to know of their child’s plight from one of her camp mates and rushed to Rohtak, where she finally broke down and narrated her ordeal. (PTI)
