PUDUCHERRY: A senior cricket player-cum-coach in Puducherry was booked on charges of sexually harassing a 16-year-old girl, who aspires to become a cricketer. Police also booked four representatives of the Cricket Association of Pondicherry (CAP), which engages coaches to hold training sessions, on charges of failing to report the crime to competent authorities.
The Mettupalayam police said the Childline forwarded a complaint lodged by the girl, accusing senior player cum coach Thamaraikannan of harassing her by repeatedly touching her shoulders, back and chest despite objections by her. The survivor said she had brought the issue to the knowledge of four representatives of CAP, but none of them took any action to prevent Thamaraikannan from harassing her.
She said Thamaraikannan messaged her stating that he loved her and also threatened that he would not train her if she rejected his proposal. She said Thamaraikannan, on learning about her intention to lodge a complaint, came to her house with his wife and pressured her not to lodge a complaint.
But she went ahead and lodged a complaint with Childline, which forwarded the complaint to Mettupalayam police station following which police booked Thamaraikannan and four others under various sections of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012 and began investigations.
However, CAP secretary Chandru dismissed the charges as false allegations and said the girl did not lodge any complaint of sexual harassment against anyone to the association.
He said her mother had lodged a complaint against Thamaraikannan accusing him of misconduct. Chandru said the association conducted a high-level inquiry and banned Thamaraikannan from playing cricket for one year.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
