Sexual harassment of players: Silchar DSA bans Bikash Bhattacharjee for life

Under sexual harassment allegation of offering inappropriate proposition to a female hockey player, recently resigned Hockey coach Bikash Bhattacharjee has been served lifetime suspension by the Silchar DSA upon the confirmation of the allegation put against him. On Friday evening, during the DSA’s governing body meeting, accused Bikash Bhattacharjee was served with this punishment.

Also, the other accused of this case, the co-conspirator of this sexual harassment case, a woman cricketer of the surname ‘Paul’ has also been served with a lifetime suspension notice. As a result, from now onwards, both of the accused are barred from attending any sports meeting or event or be a part of any club committee forever. Moreover, they’re also barred from entering the premises of the DSA ground. Simply put, both Bikash Bhattacharjee and the female co-conspirator of ‘Paul’ surname are outcasted from the sports community. This decision of the governing body will be made known to Bikash’s club, India Club, as well as all the other clubs affiliated with the DSA and educational institutions.

This is the first-ever instance in the history of the Silchar DSA that a member has been suspended for a lifetime under such a derogatory accusation. Hence, from that perspective, the DSA has taken a historical decision by setting such strong precedence. At the governing body meeting, several other issues were discussed. But the most notable one was of course the allegation of sexual harassment against Bikash Bhattacharjee. DSA Secretary Bijendra Prasad Singh in that meeting read out all the allegations put forward by the woman hockey player. Then, all the members of the DSA agreed to serve strict punishment to the accused coach Bikash.

To investigate the entire incident, a 5-member investigation committee was formed, which submitted its final report of the investigation to the DSA last Wednesday. According to that report, Bikash Bhattacharjee was found guilty as there was enough evidence to suggest that he was harassing female players. Several audio-video clips supporting the claims of the victim were also there, hence Bikash getting a guilty sentence was just a matter of time. The governing body on Friday just put an official seal to that, which was expected of the DSA anyway by the sporting community of this region.

It is also worth mentioning here that Bikash Bhattacharjee continues to serve as the head of the Auto Owners’ Association in Silchar. It remains to be seen if he is asked to step down from that spot too.