Top Bangladesh tennis official suspended for sexual harassment

A top official of Bangladesh Tennis Federation (BTF) was on Thursday suspended for sexually harassing a Bangladeshi-born juvenile tennis player.

The victim on Wednesday filed the lawsuit with Gulshan police station against the BTF’s general secretary Golam Morshed.

National Sports Council secretary Masud Karim confirmed this to Prothom Alo.

The tennis player came to Bangladesh for an ITA Tournament held in Dhaka on 4 November. She was scheduled to play another tournament in Khulna, but the shocked player left the country immediately after the incident.

Prothom Alo tried to contact Golam Morshed over phone and through SMS, but he cannot be reached.

Asked about the matter, BTF’s vice president Mohammad Ali Dwin said, “We don’t know anything about the incident until now. We’ll take action after investigating into the matter.”

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Gulshan police station’s officer-in-charge SM Kamruzzaman said, “We’ve received an accusation of sexual harassment. We are looking into the matter. If found guilty, he will be punished.”

After the shocking incident, the devastated tennis player returned home without informing his family on 14 November.

Later, she emailed details of the incident to one of her relatives.

According to the email, in a certain evening the tennis federation’s general secretary invited the player for a dinner outside. He behaved foul with the girl inside his private car. The girl immediately protested, but he did not stop there. The official then took her to his house and tried to harass her sexually there.

As the girl started shouting, he called up Uber. She alone returned her residence at Dhaka Club at the dead night.

Later, her father was informed about the matter and brought her back to Bangladesh and filed the case.

Before leaving the country, he said, “Don’t let any other girls to be abused by this general secretary.”