Kiren Rijiju, the Sports Minister of India, on the 5th of September, promised to take strict action against a swimming coach, who was accused of molesting a minor girl in Goa.
Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter and assured to take action against the coach, identified as Surajit Ganguly. The tweet read, “A stringent action will be taken through Sports Authority. Firstly, it’s a heinous crime of serious nature so I’ll urge the Police to take stringent penal action against the coach urgently.”
The incident came to light after a video of the coach molesting a minor girl went viral on several social media platforms.
On the 4th of September, a filmmaker, Vinod Kapri, uploaded pictures and videos, in which the coach was seen molesting the 15 year old girl. Kapri also tagged the Sports Minister of India and sought help for the girl.
Kiren Rijiju also directed the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) to make sure Surajit does not get a job in India. Digambar Kamat, the President of the SFI said, “We have taken a suo moto step after the video surfaced online. We don’t yet know where the incident took place, but we are trying to find out.”
The Goa Swimming Association also confirmed the termination of Ganguly’s contract with the Association.
Syed Abdul Majid, the Secretary of the Goa Swimming Association (GSA,) said, “We terminated Surajit’s contract immediately after watching the video. Both the girl and coach are from West Bengal.”
He further added, “We had appointed him because he had a good track record as a coach. There have been no prior complaints against him.”
Surajit Ganguly joined the GSA two and a half years ago and is a swimming champion with 12 gold medals, which he won at the International Swimming Championship.
The GSA and the SFI are investigating the matter.
Stay tuned for further updates.
