New Delhi: The Indian masseur, charged with an indecent assault on a teenaged volunteer at the Commonwealth Games athletes village in Melbourne, refused an out of court settlement claiming his innocence, the Indian chef-de-mission said on Wednesday.
"We tried for an out of court settlement but the masseur Diwan Asghar Nabi refused to consider it as he thought he had done nothing wrong," HJ Dora said in New Delhi.
Dora, who is also the president of the Weightlifting Federation of India, said Nabi felt that an out of court settlement would leave a blot on his character forever.
"Nabi has been steadfast in claiming his innocence saying he just wanted to take a picture with the girl who has alleged indecent assault," Dora said.
He said if Nabi had agreed to the proposal put forth by the officials of the Indian contingent, they could have approached the girl in that regard.
"We could have worked out a settlement where Nabi would have apologised and the matter would have been closed there and then. But Nabi would have nothing of it as he thought it would leave a scar on his honour," Dora said.
Meanwhile, the girl in question and another female attendant at the Games village have testified in a Melbourne court sticking to their charges.
"We have provided legal counsel to Nabi and have requested for a swift trial as the masseur has a family to support in India," Dora said.
"There may have been a misunderstanding as Nabi is not aware of the etiquette common in Australia. He does not know a word of English. After all, he is just a masseur."
Nabi is a part-time employee at Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sport, Patiala, but Dora said his job could be in jeopardy now.
"This sort of negative publicity does not help as it reflects a poor image of the country," Dora said.
Comments
0 comment