#MeToo Movement: Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga accused of sexual harassment
NEW DELHI: The #MeToo movement seems to have entered the cricketing arena too with prominent singer Chinmayi Sripaada posting a tweet on behalf of an anonymous woman, claiming that Sri Lankan cricketer Lasith Malinga sexually assaulted the woman during an IPL season in a Mumbai hotel.
Sripaada shared a post on Twitter where she put up the anonymous woman's post, naming, 'Cricketer Lasith Malinga', since the alleged victim did not name the cricketer in her statement. "I'd like to remain anonymous.
A few years back when I was in Mumbai, I was looking for my friend in the hotel we were staying in. I bumped into a very famous Sri Lankan cricketer during the IPL season who said my friend was in his room. I go in and she's not. He then pushed me in the bed and proceeded to climb onto my face." "Mind you I'm tall and about same body weight & I couldn't fight him back.
I closed my eyes and mouth but he used my face. Then the hotel staff knocked on the door to replenish the bar which he went to open the door.
I quickly ran into the washroom, washed my face and left as soon as the hotel staff left.
I was humiliated. I knew people would say that you knowingly went to his room, he's famous, you wanted it or worse you deserve it," the alleged tweet read.
Lankan seamer Malinga has taken 306 wickets in 207 ODIs and 90 wickets in 68 T20Is played so far. Malinga also claimed 101 wickets in 30 Tests.
According to Sripaada, the alleged incident took place during an IPL season. Malinga has played for Mumbai Indians in all the 10 seasons of the IPL.
He has 154 wickets to his name from 110 matches in the cash-rich league which also makes him the highest wicket-taker in the history of the IPL.
Courtesy: timesofindia
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
