FIR Against National Shooting Coach After 17-Year-Old Shooter Accuses Him of Sexual Assault
New Delhi: The National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) has suspended a national shooting coach after a minor shooter has accused him of sexually assaulting her during the national championships last month. An FIR has also been registered against Ankush Bhardwaj who is a prominent member of India's shooting coaching staff, reported Press Trust of India.
Bhardwaj, who is a resident of Mohali, has been booked under Section 6 of POCSO Act (aggravated sexual assault), and Section 351(2) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (criminal intimidation).
"NRAI has suspended him and we will issue a show-cause notice. He has been suspended on moral grounds. Now, he has to prove himself innocent. Till the inquiry is not completed, he will not be associated with any coaching activity," NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told PTI.
Bhatia added that earlier NRAI had recommended Bhardwaj for a place in the 37-strong coaching team after the Paris Olympics in 2024.
"It was on the recommendation of the NRAI that he was appointed by SAI as one of the coaches. It is a case of sexual harassment which happened in Surajkund," he added.
The complainant, a 17-year-old minor girl has said that she has been training with Bhardwaj since August last year, and she was left traumatised by the incident, eventually speaking up in front of her mother on January 1 after being persistently probed.
According to the minor girl, on the day of the incident, she went to the Karni Singh Range unaccompanied in a taxi to compete in the Nationals.
The victim said that when she was about to leave for home after finishing her competition, the coach told her to stay back to analyse her performance.
At first Bhardwaj requested her to meet him at the lobby of a hotel in Surajkund area of Faridabad. But later he allegedly coerced her into coming up to his room, claiming a more focused discussion was required, says the FIR.
"The coach asked me to come to the elevator area. After that, when I went to the elevator area, coach sir told me that he had booked a room here, so come to my room. I will discuss the match with you there. He took me to a room on the third floor, and discussed the match. After sometime, I said to sir that I wanted to go home, but he told me that he would crack my back," she said, referring to a physiotherapy technique of post-competition recovery,” the victim has said in the FIR.
"I immediately refused. Then sir forcibly made me lie face down and sexually assaulted me and when I opposed, he threatened me. He threatened me not to disclose the incident or else he would sabotage my professional career. I got really scared after the incident and did not tell anyone," she stated, adding that she eventually told her mother after she repeatedly asked her on noticing change in her demeanour following the incident," says the FIR, reported PTI.
The police are presently investigating the matter. Bhardwaj, a former pistol shooter, had earlier served a doping ban in 2010 during his competitive days.
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