Over half of India's sports federations don't have sexual harassment panel: Report

The ongoing protest by the country's top grapplers has called for broader discussions on the need for a regulatory body to ensure the protection of female athletes.

Earlier, the wrestlers had, in January, staged a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar and accused Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual exploitation and intimidation.

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The sports ministry had then formed an oversight committee headed by boxing great MC Mary Kom and asked it to submit its findings in one month.

The Mary Kom-led probe had then flagged the lack of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) mandated by the 2013 Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act, as a major finding - and a pressing issue for a nation that has seen an influx of women's participation in sports.

According to an Indian Express report, as many as 16 of the total 30 national sports federations lack such a committee.

The ICC was designed to act as body to act on grievances under the PoSH Act, which is required in order to ensure a safe workplace environment for women. The law suggests that the committee needs a minimum of four members, of which at least one shall be an external member of an organisation that works for the empowerment of women. It could also be someone familiar with issues regarding sexual harassment. Atleast half the committee members have to be women as well.

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Based on the publication's findings, here are some of the sports bodies in the country and their status on ICC:

The Gymnastic Federation of India has no ICC, but it has a six-member investigation committee of which two are women. The committee is comprised entirely of members from the federation, with no external members.

The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), told the publication that an ICC will be formed in a month's time, as they are going through legal procedures for the same, since the new administration was formed just a few months back.

While the Handball Federation of India said that a committee will be in place after their Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to take place on May 20.

With regard to the national volleyball body, Anil Choudhary, the secretary general told the publication that if there are cases of sexual harassment, those will be raised at the federation’s general body meeting. "There’s no separate committee. Any matter gets raised at the general body meeting and then all members will decide on what has to be done," he said.

The report further suggested that though some associations have an ICC, there are no external members in them- including the national associations for badminton, archery, basketball, among others.

The Bowling Federation however claimed to have an ICC but does not have any publicly available record of any such mechanism.