Charged with sexual assault, 5-time Paralympian to return his Arjuna award

The constraints of poverty have taken the better of him, now the five-time Paralympian shooter and coach is left at the utter mercy of the officials of Sports Authority of India (SAI). The incident took shape after Naresh Kumar Sharma was accused of ‘ill-treatment’ by a trainee after he ‘told her that as per SAI rules, no personal coach was allowed at the range’. With his public image taking a beating since the accusation, Naresh has now threatened to return his Arjuna award as a mark of protest against the injustice doled out to him.  

In a letter to the Sports Ministry, Kiren Rijiju, Naresh wrote, “ With a heavy heart, I have decided to return the prestigious Arjuna Award and a cheque of Rs 50,000/- to your kind self, as grave injustice has been done to me in the last three months by the Sports Authority of India official.”

For somebody who has proved his mettle by representing India in the Paralympics, four times in the Para-Asian Games as well as in the World Cup, it continues to remain a hard battle to be fought. The years of his dedication towards the sport earned him a beguiling opportunity to bag the prestigious Arjuna award in the year 1997. Naresh was quoted as saying by PTI, “I have proudly donned Indian colours in five Paralympic Games and four Para-Asian Games, World Cups, and other International competitions, bringing laurels to the country. But in the last three months, I have been treated like a criminal by the same organisation, which hired me as a coach at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges.”

An investigation over the sexual harassment case had been launched by SAI’s Neelam Kapur, with Naresh still seeking hope for an even-handed justice after a long wait of three months. “I am still waiting to hear SAI. In the meantime, I have lost my childhood, I am unable to pay the fees of my school-going children, I have lost the opportunity to represent the country in a sixth Paralympic Games in 2020 Tokyo and I have lost faith in the system.”

Shuddering with familiar spells of desperation, Naresh alleged, “I feel, of what use is this Arjuna award fro me when it cannot even guard my honour against a very flimsy and false complaint filed by someone.” One has to do little in order to be familiar with the lasting harm caused by wrongful allegations, and Naresh is no stranger to this scrutiny. False accusatory fingers do more harm than expected, and when it enters the periphery of sports, it lets out subtle spells of agony and ignominy.