AIFF Approves Prevention Of Sexual Harassment Policy After Deepak Sharma Assault Incident

Rocked by allegations of physical assault against its executive member Deepak Sharma, the All India Football Federation on Wednesday approved and implemented the AIFF Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Policy with immediate effect. (More Football News)

The decision was arrived at by the AIFF executive committee, following thorough deliberations and careful consideration, the federation said in a statement.

The AIFF PoSH Policy, which is based on the PoSH Act 2013, is aimed at ensuring a safe and inclusive environment within the football community.

It has been crafted and vetted by the AIFF legal team.

The decision comes weeks after allegations of physical abuse against Sharma. The executive committee member who is also the owner of Himachal Pradesh-based football club Khad FC was accused by two women footballers of physically assaulting them on the night of March 28 in a drunken state.

Following the incident, Sharma was arrested by Goa Police and was later released on bail.

In another case, a woman employee at the AIFF headquarters here had lodged a "verbal" complaint of "harassment" against a male colleague. The woman, however, did not press a formal charge.

Before that there was also the Alex Ambrose sexual harassment case that created crisis in Indian football less than two years ago. The incident came to fore in July 2022 when the assistant head coach of the Indian U-17 women's football team, Ambrose, was sacked for sexual misconduct by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) which was handling the day-to-day affairs of AIFF back then.

On the implementation of the policy, AIFF acting secretary general M Satyanarayan said, "The need for a PoSH policy exclusively for the AIFF staff was much needed. We have drafted this by taking policies as per the PoSH Act of 2013 and the policies in a few other organisations as well and incorporated them into our policy.

"Our PoSH policy has been designed in a way that it can be altered and adapted as we go forward. Along with this, we have also planned to have an expert on the PoSH policy to address our staff at least three times a year to keep reminding them of it."

"It is essential, especially for our junior and women's teams. We feel it is necessary for all stakeholders in various positions to be fully aware of the PoSH policy," he said.