Meghalaya cricket body chief condemns cover-up of sexual harassment complaint by U-23 women’s team

A day after the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) summoned four officials of the Meghalaya Cricket Association (MCA) in connection with an alleged sexual harassment of the State’s Under-23 women’s cricket team, the association’s president, James P.K. Sangma, said he was kept in the dark about the complaints filed in December 2025.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Sangma condemned the “cover-up” of the sexual harassment complaints, alleging that MCA secretary Rayonald Kharkamni tried to bury the matter for nearly six months.

Kharkamni is one of the four MCA officials whom the MSCW chairperson, Iamonlang Syiem, summoned for a hearing on May 26. The others are former president Nababrata Bhattacharjee, former treasurer Dhrubajyoti Thakuria, and former cricket operations manager Shining Star Lyngdoh.

“…the allegations… are a matter of grave concern to me… and they demand to be treated with the full seriousness they deserve. Sexual harassment, in any form and in any setting, be it a sports association or any other institution or organisation, is completely unacceptable,” Mr Sangma wrote in the statement mailed to Sports stars on Sunday.

Sangma assumed charge as the MCA president on January 16, more than a month after 15 members of the U-23 women’s cricket team lodged the complaint against the team’s head coach and manager with the association on December 3, 2025. The incidents reportedly occurred during a cricket tournament in Agartala, Tripura.

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The matter was allegedly buried as the MCA headed for its election on December 19, 2025.

“Feigning ignorance in the name of elections when a larger matter was at hand, misleading everyone when till date no inquiry was conducted, or even a basic response given to complainants, tells the larger story of what the MCA has been and continues to be for some people in it,” Sangma said.

He criticised the decision to include the accused team manager in the nomination list for the North East Cricket Development Council U-23 Women’s T20 Trophy, held from April 6 to 11 in Sikkim.

Sangma said that the sexual harassment issue came to light when the aggrieved U-23 women’s cricket team filed a complaint before the MCA Ombudsman, retired judge B.D. Agarwal, on May 8. He said he requested that the Ombudsman look into the complaint and initiate a detailed investigation.

Sangma said the MCA secretary convened a meeting on May 9, while keeping him in the dark, with the “apparent objective of setting aside the office of the Ombudsman altogether, which would have had the effect of rendering invalid any independent intervention into this very matter of sexual harassment”.

He said he would approach the High Court of Meghalaya to ensure that “technical nuances” do not derail the Ombudsman’s enquiry against the errant officials.

Published on May 24, 2026