In a shocking development, two women footballers have complained they were physically assaulted by Deepak Sharma, the general secretary of Himachal Pradesh Football Association. The two footballers are members of Khad FC and are currently in Goa to take part in the inaugural Indian Women’s League 2.
As per All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) website, Deepak is an executive committee member of the governing body, the deputy chairperson of the competition committee and chairperson of its infrastructure committee.
The two girls filed a complaint with the AIFF’s competitions committee on Friday.
As per the complaint from Palak Verma and Ritika Thakur, Deepak, in a drunken state, entered their room on Thursday night (March 28) while they were boiling eggs for dinner. Deepak then allegedly slapped them after getting offended.
They further claim that right from the day the team left Himachal for Delhi, he has been drinking in front of the players.
“As the dinner was over, we were boiling eggs as we didn’t get dinner due to this reason. Mr. Deepak Sharma got offended and stormed into our room and slapped me (Palak) and Ritika and assaulted us physically. From the first day, he used to be in an inebriated (drunken) state,” read the complaint as quoted by Sportstar.
Further quoting Jonathan D’Sousa, the vice president of Goa Football Association, the publication reported that a report has been forwarded to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) after a preliminary investigation.
“In the morning, I got a call from the Match Commissioner saying that there was a complaint,” D’Sousa was quoted as saying.
“So, the General Secretary and the Match Commissioner went to the place where the girls were staying and they did a preliminary investigation. They forwarded their report to the AIFF.” he added.
GFA has also informed the police about the alleged incident.
“As an organizer and as part of the GFA, we felt that we should at least inform the police that so and so incident has happened. Now, the law has to follow this process,” D’Sousa said.
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Recalling the incident, Palak said Deepak got angry over boiling of eggs.
“That day, I was injured and had brought eggs in my room,” Palak was quoted as saying by NDTV. “At around 10:30-11 pm, I was in the kitchen with another girl, preparing eggs. At that time, sir called us to his room. The other girl went to his room and she was asked about what we were doing. She told him that egg was being prepared. Sir scolded the girl and then called me in. He asked in a rude way on why I was preparing egg and if I was ‘special’. Sir was drunk.”
Palak then alleged Deepak asked them to throw away the eggs after she started crying, he entered her room before assaulting her.
“I explained to him that food had finished and that’s why I was preparing egg in the room. He was drunk that time. He told me to throw away the eggs. I started crying and came to my room and banged the door. On hearing that, sir rushed to the room and without knocking entered the room. He came and physically assaulted me. My roommate stopped him and then he went away,” she said.
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