17 sexual harassment cases received by SAI since 2018: Sports Minister Anurag Thakur

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has received a total of 17 sexual harassment complaints since the start of 2018, the country's Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said during a question hour in the ongoing winter session of the parliament on Tuesday.

Responding to queries from MPs from his and the opposition parties, the Sports Minister mentioned that these cases of sexual harassment were reported in SAI centres in the cities of Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Thiruvananthapuram, Gandhinagar, Lucknow and Kolkata. He further added that out of the 17 complaints, seven were received in 2018, six in 2019, one in 2020 and three in the ongoing year.

Thakur maintained that the Sports Ministry has set up a process to prevent further such incidents whilst also ensuring that all the complaints are redressed at the earliest. The steps taken to curb these incidents of sexual harassment includes the travelling of female officials or coaches along with women athletes for tournaments, an Internal Complaint Committee headed by a woman official and a 24x7 helpline number.

What is to be noted is the fact that as per Anurag Thakur, 16 out of the 17 reported incidents happened 'within the campus of SAI' while one occurred outside the premises.