Opinion NRAI’s swift action on sexual assault allegations is welcome

In the accusation of sexual misconduct levelled by a trainee shooter against her coach are the contours of a grimly familiar story, of an outsized power asymmetry being exploited to abuse and threaten a vulnerable young person in what should be safe spaces. Ankush Bhardwaj, a former athlete and national coach, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a trainee — a minor — after a sporting event in December. He has also been accused of subsequently intimidating her into silence by threatening her vis a vis her future in the sport. He has since been arrested under the provisions of the POCSO Act as well as the BNS and has been suspended by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and removed from all coaching duties.

The swift response of the NRAI — which has also issued a show cause notice to Bhardwaj, and apprised its Internal Complaints Committee of the case — stands in stark contrast to how similar cases have often played out in the past. The half-hearted and delayed response to the allegations of sexual harassment raised in 2023 by India’s women wrestlers against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the then president of the Wrestling Federation of India and MP, is just one example. The harrowing details recounted by the young shooter find an echo in the stories shared by the wrestlers, as in other similar stories over the years. They are reminders of how vulnerable young athletes — several of them minors, often forced to train far away from home — remain to predators who may be working with them as trainers, physiotherapists etc.

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For young athletes, coming forward with complaints against those in authority is not easy. It is made harder still by the fact that perpetrators end up either not being investigated properly or are let off too lightly. Often, as a 2020 investigation by this newspaper of sexual harassment complaints at the Sports Authority of India showed, they are allowed to continue working with young sportspersons as inquiries drag on. When abuse is thus overlooked and trust shattered, it can take a devastating mental and physical toll on those being preyed upon. Even as the law takes its course, the NRAI’s actions show how institutions and systems built to nurture young talent can support them during difficult times.