Surajit Ganguly has been sacked and barred from any job in the government.
Highlights
- Surajit Ganguly was employed with the Goa Swimming Association
- He was sacked after video of his alleged attempt was shared online
- Both the coach Surajit Ganguly and the swimmer are from Bengal
A video of a swimming coach from Bengal sexually abusing a teenaged swimmer, also from the state, in a room in Goa and the swimmer's testament has sent shockwaves on social media and the country's sports world.
Please save sports, the medal-winning swimmer appealed, also in a video statement. The 15-year-old is back at her home in Bengal now.
"Molestations happen in sports but few protest. I want to speak out. It has been going on for too long. If I don't speak out, others will suffer," she said.
Both the coach Surajit Ganguly and the swimmer are from Bengal. The coach, say sources, was a national swimmer himself.
He had a full-time railways job and would train students at a pool in Bengal.
About three years ago, he came under a cloud at the training centre. Sources say the relationship between the mother of one of his swimming students and him caused a local scandal and he had to leave.
He reportedly went to Bengaluru first and then ended up as a Goa Swimming Federation trainer, approved by the Sports Authority of India.
"I was coaching with him since I was 10 years old. I got good results. He asked me come to Goa. I went. My father was there most times. But the coach's behaviour was horrible," the swimmer says in her statement.
"He would touch me, threaten me. Don't tell anyone, he warned. It's between you and your coach, he said. Don't tell your parents. You have a future. He would come to my house. He would misbehave in the pool. I want help," the girl said.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has stepped in, the coach Surajit Ganguly has been sacked and barred from any job in the government.
A complaint lodged by the girl at her local police station has been sent to Goa. The police there have filed a case of rape, molestation and criminal intimidation and also under the strict Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.