Girl kabaddi players served food in toilet in UP during competition, senior official suspended

Photographs and videos of food served in the toilet to kabaddi players who participated in a tournament in Saharanpur district went viral across social media

In a cringe-worthy video making rounds on social media, members of a girls’ kabaddi team were seen being served food in a toilet during a state-level sub-junior competition that was being held in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, about 500 km from the state capital.

Taking a serious note of the incident, sports director Ram Prakash Singh suspended the regional sports officer (RSO) Animesh Saxena and ordered an inquiry into the matter, official sources said on Tuesday.

The disgust factor in the video was quite high—the footage not only showed girls being served food in the toilet, it also showed that utensils and food items were also kept in there—urinals were clearly visible in the video.

As the video gained traction, the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state was left egg-faced and open for harsh criticism all around, especially from opposition parties.

According to a source, the footage was taken during the sub-junior level girls’ kabaddi competition that was organised at Saharanpur September 16–18, where teams from all 16 divisions of the state had participated.

RSO Saxena, however, refuted the allegations and claimed that the rice, which was kept in the toilet was of poor quality and was not meant to be served to the players. “The lunch time was two in the afternoon, but the players reached there before…irked over the delay in serving the food, someone made a video of the rice and made it viral,” Saxena said.

The negligence gave the Congress an opportunity to criticise the Uttar Pradesh state government. Taking pot shots at the BJP at the helm, the Congress said that the state government had money to spend on false advertisements, but it did not have funds to “make good arrangements for our players”.

The Aam Aadmi Party also criticised the state government over the arrangements. “The Delhi government has been providing world-class training and other facilities to the players, but the BJP is treating the players in such a way,” said Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.