The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on April 2 suspended its govt committee member Deepak Sharma till additional discover for his alleged physical assault of two women players in Goa, two days after it stopped quick of doing the identical.
Two footballers of Himachal Pradesh-based Khad FC, participating within the Indian Women’s Football (IWL) League second division, had alleged that Mr. Sharma, the proprietor of the membership, had barged into their room and bodily assaulted them on the night time of March 28.
On Saturday, the AIFF requested Mr. Sharma to chorus from football-related actions until the conclusion of a probe by a panel into his alleged incident. Mr. Sharma was arrested by Goa police after the host State affiliation lodged a criticism and later launched on bail.
“The AIFF Executive Committee has decided to suspend Mr. Deepak Sharma from participating in any football-related activities until further notice,” the nationwide federation mentioned in a launch.
Before that, the Emergency Committee of the AIFF comprising president Kalyan Chaubey, vice-president N.A. Haris and treasurer Kipa Ajay, on Monday took inventory of the complaints acquired from the players in opposition to Mr. Sharma.
Thereafter, a gathering of AIFF member associations was held on Monday night time and “Mr. Sharma was called and heard for a few minutes before he was advised to leave the meeting”.
In the criticism despatched to the AIFF, the two players mentioned, in accordance with sources, that Mr. Sharma was largely in an inebriated state they usually had been “scared for their lives”.
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur had additionally requested the AIFF to take “quick” and “strong legal action” in opposition to the official.
On Tuesday, the AIFF additionally dissolved the three-member committee shaped on March 30 to probe the incident, and as an alternative referred the matter to its Disciplinary Committee.
“The AIFF is determined to promote women’s football in a safe and enabling environment and will take all necessary steps to ensure this. The case has now been referred to the Disciplinary Committee and will be taken up emergently,” Chuabey mentioned.
“The AIFF has taken all steps necessary to ensure the safe passage of the complainants to their hometowns and will continue to provide any support that might be necessary.”
He mentioned the AIFF has been on the forefront of growth of women’s soccer since he took cost as its president.
“There are currently 27,030 registered women players in the country with 15,293 registered between September 2022 and March 2024. The increase in number of women footballers in various age groups is one of the most encouraging trends,” Mr. Chaubey mentioned.
“This season, we started the IWL 2 for the first time, and there is a definite plan to introduce promotion and relegation in the IWL from the next season. India made their best-ever finish (runners-up) in Turkish Women’s Cup recently and defeated European opponents.”
