The last two months have been repleted with simply awful allegations of sexual harassment committed against U-23 women cricketers of the Meghalaya Cricket Association by their coach and manager.
What makes the situation worse, however, is that the issue is clearly being used by one faction within the MCA to bash the other.
The dispute between MCA president James PK Sangma and honorary secretary Rayonald Kharkamni goes back to at least March when Sangma, as the new president, insisted that his signature be on all forthcoming MCA cheques, with them being co-signed by either the secretary or honorary treasurer. This would be a change from past practice, when the signature of any two of these three would make for a valid cheque.
Sangma claimed that questionable financial practices in the past led him to seek this change, but Kharkamni was having none of it. This has led to complete gridlock, with no one, not even the hardworking groundstaff, getting their salaries for several months.
Then, in May, the sexual harassment issue blew up. Despite his protestations to the contrary, it would seem illogical to believe that Sangma was not using this issue to go after Kharkamni. As soon as the Meghalaya State Commission for Women found the latter responsible for not taking action on the complaint when it was originally made in December Sangma acted and suspended his honorary secretary.
But the issue did not end there as Kharkamni’s supporters on the Apex Council (and these seem to be in the majority) claimed that Sangma has acted unilaterally without going through the proper channels. So, on the one hand, Sangma argues his actions are not vindictive but based on the Women’s Commission ruling alone, while Kharkamni’s supporters argue that their actions are not about protecting sexual offenders but a matter of constitutionality.
Whether there will be any real justice for the women cricketers who bravely came forward to make their complaint is now in doubt as their issue has been subsumed into this fight for power.
Prima facie, the MCA did fail in its duty to protect its players by not constituting an internal complaints committee nor appointing an ombudsman. It needs to apportion responsibility for this as well as for not acting on the December complaint and sack the coach and manager. It must also put in place measures to protect players in the future – the MCA has teams ranging from the U-15 level all the way up to the senior sides in both the men’s and women’s game and all players must be protected from powerful coaches, managers, selectors and others who could conceivably abuse their positions of authority.
This should be the obvious first priority, but the financial issue cannot be ignored either. The MCA has a huge budget of crores of rupees annually, almost completely funded by the BCCI. Although the accounts are audited yearly, this may not be enough to ensure a clean administration. A study should be held to identify flaws and recommend corrections. Transparency in all aspects is a must if stakeholders are to trust the MCA again.
