Mumbai: In a strict action, Swimming Federation of India (SFI) banned Goa’s sacked swimming coach Surajit Ganguly from all activities related to the sport after a minor girl accused him of rape.
“Based on the report filed with the SFI’s Goa unit and based on the evidence on social media, the SFI condemns this heinous behaviour and gives this coach any kind of coaching related to sports across India Or banned from other activities. A circular to this effect has been issued. For all its 29 state units, “SFI said in a statement.
A case was registered against Ganguly in Goa under sections 376 (rape), 354 (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) and the Goa Children Act.
Surajit Ganguly, a coach employed with the Goa Swimming Association (GSA), was sacked after a photo of him molesting a minor girl surfaced on social media.
On Thursday, in a series of Tweets, sports minister Kiren Rijiju had assured that stringent action will be taken against Ganguly.
“I’ve taken a strong view of the incident. The Goa Swimming Association has terminated the contract of coach Surajit Ganguly. I’m asking the Swimming Federation of India to ensure that this coach is not employed anywhere in India. This applies to all Federations & disciplines,” he tweeted.
“A drastic action will be taken through the Sports Authority. First of all, it is a heinous crime of a serious nature, so I would urge the police to take stringent punitive action against the coach immediately.”
The Goa Swimming Association confirmed that Surajit Ganguly’s contract has been terminated. “…we terminated Surajit’s contract immediately after watching the video. Both the girl and coach are from Bengal,” GSA Secretary Syed Abdul Majid was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Goa’s director of sports and youth affairs, VM Prabhudesai, also said that Mr Kamat had spoken verbally to him about terminating the services of the head coach. “Kamat has informed me of the decision to terminate the services of the head coach,” Mr Prabhudesai said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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