#dnaEdit: Belated concern

The suicide pact by four young female athletes at a Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel in Kerala cannot be viewed in isolation in the context of many sportswomen having complained of sexual harassment at the hands of trainers and colleagues. In the latest incident on Thursday, one of the girls died while the other three are reportedly in a critical condition. According to initial reports, the four girls entered into a suicide pact because of alleged harassment by officials at the centre. Another version has blamed ragging by seniors for the suicides. A female warden has alleged that the girls were caught drinking and were facing disciplinary action and posited this as a reason for the girls’ collective action. Clearly, conflicting versions are doing the rounds. The minor victims — probably coming from disadvantaged socio-economic families — were living away from their homes. All this combines to place them in a vulnerable position vis-a-vis their trainers and seniors. 

It is important to note here the broader context of sexual harassment in the arena of sports. Significantly, several cases of sexual harassment have been reported against sports coaches in recent years. In January, CCTV footage from a hotel showed a table-tennis coach forcing himself upon his teenaged ward, a minor. The Chhattisgarh table-tennis association played down the incident as a scuffle over a mobile phone and suspended the coach and, surprisingly, the player as well. Nothing more was heard about the matter though there was clear evidence of harassment in the video footage. Last October, a Gymnastics Federation of India office-bearer accused the SAI and the GFI of hushing up a sexual harassment complaint made by a woman gymnast against a male counterpart and a coach. In February 2014, the Hisar police registered a case against a SAI wrestling coach under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act after a teenaged wrestler alleged that she and other girls at the SAI centre were harassed by him. Other sporting disciplines like hockey, shooting, cricket and weightlifting have not been free of this malaise either. Perhaps, the most high-profile of such cases were the accusations of sexual harassment levelled by Olympic bronze-medallist Karnam Malleswari against a SAI coach and by members of the national women’s hockey team against the coach in 2010. 

Both these incidents, reported in 2010, forced the Union sports ministry to table the draft National Sports Development Bill which makes a tacit admission of the gender inequalities prevailing in Indian sports. Its provisions are aimed towards preventing sexual harassment in sports. The bill promises a sufficient number of women members in the coaching and support staff for every woman athlete or women’s teams and provide appropriate conditions for women in respect of work, leisure, health and hygiene. It also instructs the SAI and other agencies to provide “reasonable assistance” to the adversely affected athlete, where sexual harassment occurs, besides mandating a complaints committee to comply with the Sexual Harassment at Workplaces Act. Unfortunately, the Centre has been undecided on enacting this Bill for four years now. However, the draft is far from perfect and is silent on penalties. Without an adequate penal regime, deterrence cannot be achieved against harassment, and the situation that exists now will persist. Irrespective of the Bill’s fate, it is time that SAI cracks the whip and puts in place a system to allow athletes raise their grievances without fearing victimisation. Most sporting disciplines have their separate federations. But unlike the BCCI, few of them have invested in training facilities. As a result, the 80-odd SAI centres which train nearly 10,000 athletes are today the nerve centres of Indian sport. But with conditions such as these, it is nearly impossible for our young sportspersons to excel.