Rape accused Indian paddler Soumyajit Ghosh has married the same girl who accused him of raping her on the terms of marrying in future. Ghosh was the third highest ranked Indian men’s player after Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Achanta Sharath Kamal before the start of the Commonwealth Games but some serious accusations against him meant that he had to part ways with the game that he grew up playing and also went down in the ITTF rankings.
In March, a 18-years-old girl accused him of raping her that ousted him from the Commonwealth Games squad. His career got a huge dip in the past months but marrying the accuser may settle down the scores and he may make his way to the table.
What Soumyajit said..
“They say a sportsperson in India has to go through a lot to achieve something. The grind prepares you for the worst but what happened with me four months ago hit me hard and hit me out of nowhere. I did not know how to deal with it,” Ghosh told PTI as reported by Times of India
Ghosh hopes to get back to training
“Everyone thought about the girl. That she was young. I was young too. If she was a minor, I was 22 when we started dating. I am still young. Having said that, there is no point looking back. I rather look ahead. Hope my court case is over soon and I get back to training.
Ghosh was playing in Germany when he was accused of rape by the girl. He didn’t came back to the country because of the fear of arrest and stayed in 3-4 European countries before returning to India in May.
Ghosh said he discovered his well-wishers at the time of distress.
“I was devastated. I was at the peak of my career, playing for a good club in Germany and then something like this happens.
“I would not name them yet but I survived that phase because of just two people and my parents of course,” he said.
Support from the Indian players and TTFI
India’s governing body TTFI and players like Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai stood by the side of Ghosh during the tough times. He narrated an incident when the team went to world championships after the Commonwealth Games and lost to Croatia. India’s legendary paddler Sharath Kamal talked to Ghosh over the phone and said ‘we would have won today if you were around’
This incident made Ghosh believe that he still holds an importance but he will still miss the Indian squad for the upcoming Asian Games
