Take action against Kho-Kho coaches: Mayor

The Pioneer                31.01.2014

Take action against Kho-Kho coaches: Mayor

The demand came in the wake of an alleged sexual harassment that was
reported from Bhilai on Wednesday. Four female players of Kho-Kho team
accused the coaches in Chhattisgarh Kho-Kho Association of sexually
harassing them. They claimed coaches had been harassing them for over
two years but it had become ‘intolerable’ since a fortnight.  According
to police, a case has been registered against general secretary of the
Association S Ramu, office bearers Jagbandhu Jena and Murli Reddy.

“We do not want that after this incident, parents get scared for safety
of their daughters and discourage them for taking up a career in
sports. Only a stern action against the culprits will do justice,” said
Nayak.

They also demanded that the accused Kho-Kho association be either
blacklisted or dissolved and strict punishment is meted out to Ram.
“Sports Minister, Secretary and Director must take responsibility of
this and resign from their posts on moral grounds,” said Dhanai. Taking a
pot shot at Raman Singh-led BJP Government in the State, Dhanai said
that besides a hat trick win in Assembly elections, Singh has also made a
hat trick in ignoring issues troubling the sportsperson of the state,
especially female.

Chhattisgarh is set to host National Games this year but the incident
raises a question mark on the safety of women players in the state, let
alone the guests sportspersons. Earlier too, players like Saba Anjum,
Lata Sahu, Anita Shinde had faced safety issues in the state.  “If
sportsperson are forced to fight this battle on their own without
support from politicians, when are they supposed to focus on sports?”
questioned Dhanai. The three office bearers of the Kho-Kho association
have been accused of asking undue favours, making indecent advances and
showing porn clips to the players.