NEW DELHI, Apr 2
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Tuesday suspended its executive committee member Deepak Sharma, for allegedly assaulting and misbehaving with two women footballers of a club during their stay in Goa for the ongoing Indian Women’s League 2.
The Goa police on Saturday arrested Sharma and an FIR was also registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code against him.
However, he was later released on bail.
“The AIFF Executive Committee has decided to suspend Mr. Deepak Sharma from participating in any football-related activities until further notice,” AIFF said in a statement.
According to insiders, Sharma, who is the owner of the Himachal Pradesh-based Khan FC, was in an inebriated state and allegedly barged into the players’ room where he physically assaulted them on the night of March 28.
The two women footballers had filed a complaint letter to the AIFF in which they stated that after a match in the Indian Women’s League second division, they returned to their accommodation and were boiling eggs as dinner was over when Sharma, in an inebriated state, allegedly barged into their room and assaulted them.
Following the suspension of Sharma, the AIFF on Tuesday, also dissolved the three-member committee formed on March 30 to probe into the incident, and instead 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,” AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said.
“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 said the AIFF has been at the forefront of development of women’s football since he took charge 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,” Chaubey said.
“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,” the AIFF president added.
