Junior Athlete From Rourkela ‘Sexually Abused’ By Seniors In Bhubaneswar; 3 Arrested

Bhubaneswar:  A junior athlete from Rourkela has accused three senior athletes of sexually abusing him at the hostel of a private university in the Odisha capital.

The athlete,  a Class X student, was in the city to participate in the 68^th Odisha State (Senior and Junior) Athletics Championship 2022.

Speaking to the media, the minor boy said that his seniors abused him after he failed to qualify in the long jump event on April 9. The following day, they called him to their room on the pretext of giving him a lunch coupon and as a punishment asked him to kneel down. They then asked him to strip and made him sit on the bed. They made video calls to two of their friends and also called the boy’s roommates to the room to further humiliate him.

The mother of the boy lodged a complaint with Infocity police the same day. She alleged that her son was sexually abused and was beaten by the senior athletes when he refused to undress. “When we went for the medical test, police allowed the accused seniors to leave the police station. We were also not given the complaint report,” she alleged.

The boy, who is the son of a traffic havildar, along with the month met the DCP on Monday, alleging police inaction.

Following this, Infocity police arrested the three senior athletes. The arrestees include two from Rourkela team and one from the India Post. They have been identified as Suraj Thakur, Jagannath Das, Ashish Patra.

All the accused have been booked under India Penal Code sections- 342, 323, 506, 34 and under section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

A total of 23 players had reportedly come from Rourkela to participate in the meet.