Two minor shooters were suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) after allegations of sexual harassment by a woman teammate during the recent international shooting championship in Suhl, Germany on Friday.
Both the alleged shooters are minors and have been suspended from the forthcoming competition in Finland.
NRAI sources revealed that a top junior shooter alleged in her complaint to the sports ministry and NRAI that two of her teammates harassed her during the tournament in which India won eight medals, including two gold.
Immediately, NRAI president Raninder Singh forwarded the complaint to athletes' commission, headed by former India star Moraad Ali Khan for its recommendations, based on which further action will be taken. Meanwhile, NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia confirmed the news and insisted that there was no delay on the part of NRAI in handling the complaint. Bhatia narrated that the moment they received the complaint, they suspended both the shooters but they didn't reveal their names as both are aged below 18. Further they have referred the issue to the athletes' commission and will surely take further action based on their recommendations.
It has been reported that the behavior of some of the shotgun shooters were so rash that an English coach almost lodged a complaint with the German police against an Indian shooter. They disclosed that there were several complaints in lines with the behavior of some of the boys. Remarkably, the complaint involving an English shooter was resolved at the last moment due to the endeavors of the Indian coach. They added that there were a lot of complaints during the tournament. The alleged two boys troubled her even when her match was going on. As soon as the matter became public, she was shifted out of the shotgun group and accommodated with the rifle shooters.
Out of the two alleged shooters, one is a junior national champion in double trap who hails from an influential political family while the other is a rookie from Delhi. Actually, this has raised doubts that whether there will be a fair investigation.
Various shooters expressed unhappiness at the way in which NRAI has dealt with the entire issue. NRAI explained that unfortunately the NRAI doesn't have a proper set-up to investigate the charges of sexual harassment. According to the court directives, the complaint should be investigated by a committee headed by a woman. Since NRAI doesn't have any such committee, they have sent it to the athletes' committee.
Although Raninder admitted that the matter had been referred to the athletes' committee, some of the shooters in the committee revealed that they were still not aware of it. They explained that first of all many of them haven't got any official communication from NRAI regarding their participation in such a committee. Regarding this matter, they have not been informed about it.
Actually, NRAI has a grievance committee but it is clearly mentioned that some issues, including those relating to sexual harassment, should be directly addressed to the president or the secretary.
