Uttarakhand Sports Minister Arvind Pandey has created an uproar by claiming that he have proof of sports federation officials sexually exploiting female players. Even in the past such allegations came to light but the state government never took any action against the so called culprits. But this time the scene is different and the state sports minister warns of taking legal/police action against the culprits.
The statement has exposed the poor functioning of the sports federation in Uttarakhand. In the past similar complaints were received from sports like handball, volleyball and judo. Handball girls even approached the then Uttarakhand Chief Minister N.D Tiwari in 2004, complaining of misconduct by sports officials, but deliberately too much delay was created to force the victim to lose interest in their compliant.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “I will gather information on the issue from the sports minister and we will act after receiving complain from the female players.”
It is a common practice among sport federations in Uttarakhand to join hands and anyhow settle the sexual harassment issue. The effort is to save the guilty and conduct a long inquiry- which never reaches conclusion. It is a mere formality and the exploitation faced by female players is never addressed seriously.
The Uttarakhand Sports Minister Arvind Pandey raised the issue and even warned, “I have proof about their misconduct against female cricket players and I will not spare these sports federation officials. They have raped the girls and I will get the culprits booked under section 376 of the IPC.”
The courage shown by Arvind Pandey has left a deep mark on sportsmen. They are expecting the sports minister to put end on the malpractice.