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Ankush Bharadwaj, a national shooting coach, has been accused of rape by a seventeen-year-old. The Pistol coach, a resident of Mohali, has been booked under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences(POSCO)Act for aggravated sexual assault and Section 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for criminal intimidation. The police released a statement which said that the crime unit and the women’s police station are conducting raids to capture the accused.

The former pistol shooter won a gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. In 2010, he was put on a doping ban after testing positive for using beta-blockers. After the recommendation of the National Rifle Association of India(NRAI), he was one of the 37 coaches who was appointed to the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He runs a shooting academy in Mohali. Reports show that he is the husband of a well-known Indian Olympic shooter.

On Dec 16, 2025, the victim completed her match at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi from 10:30 AM to 11:45 AM, and she waited till 2 PM. Bharadwaj called her through WhatsApp to a five-star hotel in Surajkund, asking her to come to the lobby to “write down” a report of her match performance. Once she arrived, he reportedly called her to the area where the lift was, and then he took her to his room on the third floor. While she was writing her report, he began pressing her shoulders and offered to “crack her back”. When she refused, he allegedly sexually assaulted her. He dropped her off near her vehicle around 4:00 PM. The FIR states that Bharadwaj threatened to “ruin her career” if she disclosed the incident to anyone. In the days following the assault, he allegedly called her parents to complain that the shooter “was not listening to him” during training, a scheme he used to explain the change in her behaviour. The victim stayed silent due to trauma and fear, but eventually broke down and confessed to her mother on January 1, 2026, after her parents questioned her visible distress.

The FIR was registered on January 6, 2026, at the Women’s Police Station in Faridabad. Police are currently going through the CCTV footage from the hotel and the shooting range to verify the timeline.

The NRAI suspended Bharadwaj immediately after receiving the FIR copy. They have issued a show-cause notice and stated that he will not be associated with any coaching activity until the inquiry is complete.

As of the latest reports on January 9, the coach had not yet been arrested, though police have formed teams to locate him.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first case where someone from the sports section has been accused of rape; there have been several such cases.

Yash Dayal, the IPL cricket player, in July 2025, was accused of alleged rape and sexual harassment, in which he was booked under two separate cases in Jaipur and Ghaziabad, which also included a case that involved a minor under the POSCO Act.

In the same month and year, a fifteen-year-old girl accused three trainers of gang raping her at the selection camp in Odisha. They were booked under the BNS and POSCO Act.

In early 2023, the WFI president,  Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was accused of harassing female wrestlers for years. India’s top wrestlers were protesting against him, including Olympic medalists.

In July 2022, the football assistant coach Alex Ambore of India’s U-17 was accused of abusing a minor player during the tour.

The data from NCB shows that over the long term, there has been an overall increase in rape cases in India, with the annual numbers being above 30,000 recently, with only a drop in the numbers during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. These are only numbers are only the reported numbers. The country that worships goddesses has one of the highest numbers of rape cases in the world.

Through this article, I put forward these questions, which I know all of us have in the back of our minds.

Till when will women have to continue to suffer? If girls and women are not even safe while playing a game, are they really ever safe?

Till when will the people in positions of power and money get away with their actions without any consequences?

Till when will the victim be blamed?

These are not mere rhetorical flourishes; they echo the raw pain of countless women whose lives have been shattered by violence, betrayal, and indifference. Picture a young girl on a playground, her laughter cut short by predatory eyes—spaces meant for joy turned into hunting grounds. From boardrooms to bedrooms, from sports fields to streets, the threat lurks, normalised by a society that whispers “be careful” instead of demanding change. Women navigate a minefield daily, their freedom curtailed not by choice, but by fear etched into their bones. And the powerful? They wield influence like a shield, buying silence with wealth and connections. Scandals erupt—athletes, actors, tycoons exposed—yet consequences evaporate like morning mist. Justice becomes a spectacle, not a reckoning. Meanwhile, victims face the real trial: dissected under the spotlights of doubt, their clothes, words, and timing questioned. “What was she wearing?” they ask, as if consent is a wardrobe malfunction. How long will this cycle spin? Till we dismantle the structures that protect predators and punish the prey? Till accountability pierces the armour of privilege? The time for questions is over; it’s time for action. Women deserve safety, not as a privilege, but as a right. Society, when will you answer?

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