A horror story of sexual harassment of ladies cricketers – a lot of them minors – in Kerala has put the state’s cricket affiliation in focus.
Coach M. Manu is in judicial custody underneath the POCSO (Safety Of Kids from Sexual Offences) Act after six ladies registered complaints towards him to the police.
Tipping level
The tipping level got here when Manu was appointed by the Kerala Cricket Affiliation (KCA) as one of many coaches for the Kerala Cricket League. A lady — who had been beforehand abused by him and who had moved to a different state — was shocked to search out that he had nonetheless been working as a coach, regardless of a police case towards him for sexual harassment. He had been acquitted in that POCSO case after the survivor reportedly modified her assertion. This time, the lady, who went for the KCA event, raised a grievance. Quickly, many others got here ahead.
He had allegedly been exploiting ladies for six years. That’s the reason mother and father of the trainees are upset with the best way the KCA has dealt with the difficulty. They really feel Manu shouldn’t have been allowed to educate ladies after complaints towards him surfaced.
“Manu is a routine offender and used his place as a coach to sexually assault minors,” a mother or father of one of many ladies informed Sportstar. “He was manipulating and grooming kids on a regular basis for his sexual needs. He exploited the kids’s ardour for the sport and informed them that they must cooperate with him to succeed.”
“When observe was occurring on the nets on the KCA headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, he would take the victims to the gymnasium on the sly to carry out lewd acts.
“The health club and bathroom had been the one locations the place there have been no CCTV cameras and he fairly properly knew that.
Below KCA’s safety
“The KCA is defending him as he’s related with a cricket membership owned by a KCA official. The KCA didn’t take any motion towards Manu regardless of the complaints. The KCA’s assertion that it wasn’t conscious of the difficulty till the police visited its premises for investigation is fake.”
The affiliation had been certainly underneath hearth for not taking any motion towards the coach and its continued silence, even after the police arrested Manu for the POCSO offence.
At a press convention, KCA president Jayesh George and secretary Vinod S. Kumar denied that it was defending the perpetrator and the affiliation was cooperating with the Kerala police.
Unfairly focused
Sportstar spoke to Vinod and he responded to the costs towards him and the KCA, saying that the organisation is being unfairly focused.
“The KCA grew to become conscious of the matter solely after Kerala Police visited the KCA headquarters as a part of their investigation,” Vinod stated.
“The KCA appointed M. Manu solely after he was exonerated by the Kerala Excessive Court docket. When the police case was first registered towards him, many mother and father had given an announcement to the police that the grievance was a fabricated one and it was alleged that the complainant was performing in vengeance after failing at choice trials. We appointed him for the second time following many requests from mother and father,” he added.
The secretary added that Manu had resigned and had served his discover interval however the KCA was pressured to call him as a coach for the Pink event as not one of the different certified coaches had been obtainable.
“It was merely a stop-gap association,” he stated. “The allegation that KCA is defending Manu as a result of he’s the coach of my membership is baseless. He was by no means a part of the teaching set-up of my membership. It’s true that he represented my membership as a participant for some time but in addition performed for different golf equipment earlier than he grew to become a coach.
“It’s a bid to tarnish me and these allegations are made by folks with vested pursuits. These folks have tried to derail the Kerala Cricket League by approaching the possible bidders to withdraw from the public sale and even contacted actor Mohanlal and requested him to steer clear of the KCL.”
Vinod stated the KCA had taken steps to keep away from such incidents in future. “The affiliation would have taken motion if the survivor had approached us straight, however she contacted the Childline and the KCA got here to know of it solely after police visited the premises for gathering proof,” he stated.
“The sooner grievance was instigated by individuals who wish to destroy the KCA.”
Vinod stated a girl coach had been assigned to help Manu. “Surveillance cameras had been changed with excessive decision ones and your entire space got here underneath surveillance,” he stated. “Nonetheless, the cameras couldn’t be put in contained in the health club and bathrooms for apparent causes. We had additionally made it necessary for fogeys to be current on the premises throughout coaching.”