Legal reform in sports governance to remove gender bias

We all remember the scenes of our female wrestlers lead by Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Anshu Malik, protesting against the sexual harassment cases in Wrestling Federation of India at Jantar Mantar couple of years back. This was a final reminder to all the people that patience of female sportsperson in India has reached a tipping point and no more discrimination will be tolerated. It also cautioned majority parents in India who were already with the thought process that they are risking the careers of their daughters by putting them into sports. The burden is now dual, first to safeguard yourself from predators and second to perform well under this pressure and remain competitive. Women wrestlers’ cases are not alone, almost all sports federations have this rot, of not just of sexual harassment, but various other types of discrimination. In 2022, Cycling Coach RK Sharma, who harassed a senior cyclist in Slovenia, Sandeep Singh (Haryana Sports Minister) where a junior coach accused him of inappropriate touching or Tamil Nadu Coach P. Nagarajan in which the runner accused physiotherapy pretext abuse; are just tip of the iceberg.i

Foundational Issues

It is pertinent to go at the root causes of this issue. It stems from various reasons: political, social, economic, governance etc, but my focus here in the piece is to focus on only two primary reasons.

First is societal, Indian sports industry has always been male dominated as sports is connected to physical strength of the person which is directly connects to testosterone. Since quite a long time the perception is built in our society that women are not meant for hard physical sports and it carries on till now in lot of parents. Soon after independence, India’s first health minister Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur tried to break this perception, by professionally involving herself in Tennis, but could not turn it into a mass movement.ii These stereotypes has plagued our thought process which has to be removed soon or later.

Second major cause is structural as Indian sports federations are infested with governance incapability and ineffectiveness. They lack proper structures like internal grievance redressal mechanisms and other reporting authorities, also are full of patriarchal norms. In addition, the fiduciary relationship between the perpetrator and victim, unawareness of victim about her rights all few major challenges.iii

Governance Reform

The government of the day has taken cognizance of the issue and finally came up with the landmark legislation of The National Sports Governance Act, 2025. To complete the legal reform, it also notified National Sports Governance (National Sports Bodies) Rules, 2026.iv

Notification of the National Sports Governance (National Sports Bodies) Rules marks a key milestone in the smooth transition to the statutory sports governance framework pursuant to enactment of National Sports Governance Act 2025. Let’s analyse the specific and relevant provisions regarding women safety in the legislation.

Act clearly states the objective that it is to provide for the development and promotion of sports, welfare measures for sportspersons, ethical practices based on basic universal principles of good governance, ethics and fair play of the Olympic and sports movement, the Olympic Charter, the Paralympic Charter, international best practices and established legal standards and to provide for the resolution of sports grievances and sports disputes in a unified, equitable and effective manner and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.v

• Under section 3: National Sports governing body shall be constituted for their respective recognised sports organisations.

• Under Section 4: An Executive Committee in all governing bodies, which shall consist of not more than fifteen members, out of which at least four shall be female. It will ensure women representation in top decision-making authority.

• Under Section 6: Board is empowered to frame Safe Sports Policy for the protection and safety of women, minor athletes and other. It will make sure that women and minor athletes are safeguarded against the abuse.

• The two most important provisions are:

1. Under Section 12: Code of Ethics, it bounds every Board to formulate a Code of Ethics for the members of its Executive Committee and other committees, employees, staff, sponsors, coaches, athletes, officials, members, affiliates and such other relevant persons, in accordance with the guidelines specified by the Board. Under sub section (4) it clearly mentions that The Code of Ethics shall provide measures for protection of vulnerable persons against abuse by person in a position of trust, responsibility or authority.

2. Under Section 13: Safe Sports Policy, The Board has to formulate a comprehensive Sports Policy applicable to all activities, events, operations and proceedings conducted by the National Sports Bodies. In sub section (2) it states that The Safe Sports Policy shall include provisions to ensure the protection and safety of women and minor athletes and such other persons as may be prescribed. Also, under sub section (3) establish an internal grievance redressal mechanism to address the grievances raised by athletes, coaches and other individuals associated with such body, in a fair, timely and transparent manner.

• Under Section 17: National Sports Tribunal, It the duty of the Central government to institute a tribunal to conduct independent, speedy, effective and cost-efficient disposal of sports related disputes. This will help in fast tracking issues like gender pay parity and increase trust, transparency, enforcing fairness and equal opportunity in system in the sports apparatus of India.

Government has aspired to well cater to the problem of mis-governance in the sports bodies in India. But the actual problem will only be solved when the legislation will be followed by even better implementation. Like any other legislation, it is not the law which is important, but the law abider, who decides the law’s effectiveness. As far as societal reasons are concerned, like any other social reform, this will also be improved with passing of time.

With idealising Female achievers like Dutee Chand, Saina Nehwal, Mithali Raj etc, who broke gender discrimination in Indian Sports Industry, society can get rid of this issue as soon as possible. Now It is the duty of all sports bodies to complete the remaining task by following the Act in letter and spirit.

i https://cjp.org.in/sports-industry-of-india-a-structure-build-on-patriarchy-the-silenced-cries-of-women/
ii https://ijirt.org/publishedpaper/IJIRT172491_PAPER.pdf
iii https://www.ipandlegalfilings.com/the-legal-and-ethical-implications-of-gender-discrimination-and-sexual-harassment-in-sports-with-focus-on-indias-sports-industry/
iv https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2213803&reg=3&lang=2
v https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/22045/1/2025-25.pdf