The Delhi High Court has refused to interfere with the order of the Union sports ministry to relieve the chief coach of the Indian kabaddi men’s team for Asiad Games 2023 following allegations of sexual harassment and stalking made by a minor girl player.
The high court said the allegations levelled against coach Ashan Kumar are serious and disassociating him from the position of the chief coach during the enquiry by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) cannot be said to be “illegal, irrational and it also does not suffer from procedural irregularities”.
“There are serious allegations against the petitioner for the offence under Sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and under Section 12 (punishment for sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act, 2012. This court is not inclined to interfere with the decision arrived at by the respondents (authorities). Accordingly, the writ petition is dismissed,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said in an order passed on September 26 and uploaded on the court's website on October 4.
