Manipur CM wants strong action against Kaushik

IMPHAL: MK Kaushik might have resigned over sexual harassment allegations, but Manipur is not ready to let him get away without being punished stringently.

Angry over the alleged harassment of Th Ranjita Devi – a national player from Manipur – by Kaushik, chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and sports minister N Biren Singh have requested Union sports minister MS Gill to ensure that the players were not harassed in future and the tainted coach got “stringent punishment”.

On Thursday, Okram and Biren faxed two letters to Gill, claiming that Ranjita, one of the probables for the women’s hockey team for the coming Commonwealth Games, had lodged a complaint against Kaushik with Hockey India, accusing the coach of harassing her mentally and verbally during national camps. “The complaint was supported by 31 hockey players… Besides, Ranjita alleged in her complaint that she had not been selected in the national team in the past because she refused to give in to the coach’s demands,” Okram said in the letter.

“It’s a matter of serious concern. Such behaviour of a coach may affect the sentiment of all sections of society in general and particularly the young players from Manipur,” he added.

The letter read that “it may not be out of place to say that players from this part of the country are being discriminated against and are not treated on a par with players from the rest of the country.”