New Delhi: A 17-year-old female boxer has levelled allegations of sexual harassment against a woman boxing coach posted at Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) National Boxing Academy in Rohtak, Haryana. Based on a complaint by the boxer, an FIR was registered against the coach under the POCSO Act (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) on Friday.
In the FIR, the boxer’s mother has alleged “physical torture” and “sexual abuse” against her daughter by the coach during an India camp held in Ireland (March 24-April 3). The coach was the head of the training and exposure camp for India’s youth boxers. The complaint has been registered under Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita’s sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) besides POCSO’s section 10 (aggravated sexual assault).
The boxer’s parents said they complained to the Boxing Federation of India and met its officials but the coach has not been removed from her post, the FIR says.
A top BFI official said the complaint to them was only about physical abuse like slapping and neither the boxer nor her parents raised any issue of “sexual harassment” against the coach.
“We immediately formed a panel of two members and enquired into the incident. There was also a lawyer to record the statements. She (the boxer) had spoken about being slapped and asked to do front rolls by the coach. We recorded her statements – her parents also came along. We interacted with other members of team and support staff and also the coach. We also visited the academy in Rohtak and spoke to boxers there. We’ve submitted our report to SAI,” the official told HT.
“There was nothing that warranted any action against the coach. And there was no charge of sexual harassment. We are surprised that her parents did not even speak once about it during our interaction,” the official said.
The SAI has been reached for comment.
The boxer’s mother has alleged, as per the FIR, that during the camp, the coach’s behaviour towards her daughter was “indecent”. “She physically tortured and molested her. In the past also this coach’s behaviour was not appropriate and she had tried to touch my child in a wrong manner but my child was not able to understand and she thought it was normal,” she has said in her complaint. A copy of the FIR is with HT.
“During the camp the coach asked my child to make a video. When the child showed the video, the coach blasted her in front of the team and made her do front rolls in front of the women’s team and then in the men’s changing room. My child was injured in the back (bruised).”
She alleged that the next day the coach did not accompany the boxer during her match and also didn’t let any other coach be with her. “She fought the bout alone (with no one in her corner) in the ring and we have video footage of the same.”
“After her bout, she called my child in the hall and raised questions on her character. My child went into depression. She called the entire team in the hall and insulted her and asked her to bring her phone. When my child went to her room to bring her phone, the coach came from behind and closed the door. The coach started to touch her private parts and molested her, saying ‘I will teach you how to make a good video’.
“The coach asked her to remove her clothes and forcefully tried to remove her clothes when my child pushed her and raised her voice. The coach then slapped her repeatedly and came to the hall and told her to write a letter in the presence of everyone that ‘I have another phone which I use to speak to the boys’.
“When my daughter refused to do that she again slapped her. My daughter wrote a letter against the coach mentioning how she was beaten, but the coach intimidated her and made her change her statement fearing that she will complain against her after coming to India.”
The complainant, in the FIR, has said that her daughter went back to the NBA but the coach “repeatedly tried to meet her, touch her and intimidate her. My daughter is feeling harassed and in deep depression, and we are also depressed.”
