Already mired in controversies, the IPL was on Friday rocked by a fresh scandal when Royal Challengers Bangalore player Luke Pomersbach was arrested for allegedly molesting an American woman and severely beating up her fiance.
The 27-year-old Pomersbach’s conduct prompted RCB owner Vijay Mallya to suspend the batsman, who has not played a single IPL match so far this season, till the time he is cleared of the charges.
The Australian player allegedly misbehaved with the woman, a U.S. citizen, at a five-star hotel here early this morning and has been arrested, the police said.
A case has been registered against him under various sections of IPC including section 354 of IPC (outraging modesty of woman), 323 (hurt), 454 (house trespass) and 511 (Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment).
The victim claimed that the player invited himself for some drinks with the couple and some common friends from Mumbai in their room.
She left the men alone and went to her bedroom for catching some sleep but Luke followed her and misbehaved with her, she alleged.
When her fiance intervened, Luke allegedly beat him up, she said.
The woman’s fiance has been admitted to a hospital where a CT scan has been done, doctors attending to him said.
The woman claimed that pressure is being mounted on her to withdraw the case but she will not do so.
Keywords: IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Luke Pomersbach
@Venkatapahti:
What has Bangalore's poor infrastructure to do with a brawl that
happened between an Australian and an US national in a New Delhi five-
star hotel ? How Vijay comment that 'hosts' (India as a nation) are
responsible for this is spot on. An Indian in USA pick a fight with
his friend in their apartment; is it USA fault? Had the Indian
authorities NOT arrested Luke or they did not file the FIR against
Luke for the alleged assault, one would be justified in labeling
Indian authority as useless and incompetent.
And by the way what are these "real arts" and "real sports"?? So, IPL
(cricket) is low-grade entertainment because you don't like it!!
@venkatapathi
Funny you are complaining about the roads now due to IPL. You should
direct your anger at your local politicians who have used your taxes for nothing but propping scams and black
market activities. Yours is a typical socialist mind.
@Subramaniam Dharmarajan- Though his nationality is not Indian, would he
have done it if host was a country like England ? So this reflects
altitude of "those" guys towards India and this has to do with our
system.
This young lady needs to go and report this to the US embassy. Register it as a
crime.
I can't believe that many Indians are asking her to withdraw the case. Why ? What
was her fault. She is a US citizen and any wrong doing by India's courts or people
will only reflect on the country, it's people and it's way of life.
It reflects how even the rich and powerful behave. Even in a 5 star hotel...
and in your room with a known man ( fiancee) a woman is not safe in India.
I am sure she will have a lot of info for US journalists and writers when she returns
to the US.
The player, needs to face consequences for wrong doing. He cannot escape.
IPL is no more a sport. Mere bollywood entertainment and all the scandals with top
players or stars. India is not ready for any big sporting event. The country needs to
mature to be able to handle such large events and be ready to take care of its
guests.
Recruiting such people from another country even as a player - brings shame
to the country.
The Player should be punished, or else should be handed over to the US,
they know better way to deal with these kind of cases as for Americans
the cost of one life is more as compared to India. These Australians
should learn a lesson,as they think they are GOD.
@Pravin, Vijay is actually spot on....last week's IPL match between
RCB and MI along with a tiny bit of rain created such a big mess for
the already overloaded Bangalore's traffic situation...people were
stuck in roads on the same spot for hours in the
business/education/health centers of the city. Why should everybody
else pay dearly for some to make profit out of some silly antics? If
the adequate infrastructure (parking and roads) doesn't exist , it's
always the rest who have to shell out more so that some of the spoilt
rich of this country can have a little bit of 'fun'...People just
don't have time and the encouragement in this society for the real
arts and sports leaving them prey to low grade entertainment from
these money spinners.
This has nothing to do with the IPL, India, or anybody's efficiency or inability. This sort of thing happens all over the world, and such people only bring a bad name to the culture they are from, nothing more.
@Vijay - What has this got to do with India as a country? This is just
an incident that happened because of a person getting drunk and that
too he is not an Indian national. This clearly reflects the attitude of
an Australian and not Indian.
The comments Mallayas have made reflects the kind of culture IPL is nurturing. These
so called barons would be meted out with justice for making such comments and
assuming that they require special treatment. The way these sportsmen treat women
and assume any city bred woman is lewd and promiscuous will change only if he gets
proper justice.
IPL is a good concept to encourage talented young cricketers and to create friendship amongst cricketers worldwide. As a lot of money and public are involved, adequate efforts are needed to run the show with discipline. India is often criticised because it is not been able to conduct anything perfectly.
i agree with pravin... what is the mistake of india in it ??? the people are wrong , nation did its job by castigating the people who did wrong and maintaining the required discipline..
Why would someone blame the whole nation for an incident that has embarrased the IPL event? I really dont understand. While these are uncertain, there can never be any preventive measures that a nation can take. None of the parties involved in this incident are residents of India. I strongly oppose Vijay's comments as it is completely unfair. ICC has to implement stern rules and regulations to these crimes that a minimum punishment of life ban on cricket should be in place for any player proved to be guilty.
@ Vijay - This has got NOTHING to do with India, the person over here is from Australia. This can happen anywhere. Here in the US, you have diplomats who do non-sense and get away easily because they have immunity. This guy needs to be put behind bars. As usual our police will let him go just because he is a foreigner.
I fully agree with pravin.
Isn't it fault of the system if Individual related crimes are happening?
I think these cases seem individual related to many but we aren't yet
certain and proved. We don't know exactly if SRK was wrong in his case
or system i.e. weather children were manhandled by the security staff.
And in spot-fixing case, who knows what much more goes on behind closed
doors.
Instead of creating new matters to remain pending in courts we could
serve India by resolving earlier Big Big issues like 2G, CWG,etc.
@Vijay: I agree with pravin.These kind of incidents happen due to lack of self discipline and how could someone blame the whole nation for it? And it is really rude to use the term "incapability" here. Every event is organised taking disciplined people in mind, how could the hosts take the blame when the mistake is on individuals?
When teams tour to another country, there are certain set guidelines
drawn by the team management which generally includes basic rules like
not indulging with outsiders or people outside the team squad, meeting
strangers etc. Team managers generally look after such matters. Why
are the IPL teams not complying with such guidelines and what is the
purpose of the mammoth team staff (besides the coaches, masseurs,
mentors) they carry? Furthermore, we always read news of touring teams
asking for enhanced security etc when they come for a tour, players
often talk about their safety. Why are the players themselves getting
into such vulnerable positions when they generally are so concerned
about their own safety? A lot of things have to be addressed and the
BCCI, Team Owners and Management should take greater responsibility.
The players should also behave properly and responsibly.
When teams tour to another country, there are certain set guidelines
drawn by the team management which generally includes basic rules
like not indulging with outsiders or people outside the team squad,
meeting strangers etc. Team managers generally look after such
matters. Why are the IPL teams not complying with such guidelines and
what is the purpose of the mammoth team staff (besides the coaches,
masseurs, mentors) they carry? Furthermore, we always read news of
touring teams asking for enhanced security etc when they come for a
tour, players often talk about their safety. Why are the players
themselves getting into such vulnerable positions when they generally
are so concerned about their safety and security? A lot of things have
to addressed and the BCCI, Team owners and Management should take
greater responsibility.
Supporting vijay- though they are individual unrelated incidents, they must have had not happened had the system been perfect. In Shahrukh's incident, either the officials are really rude as happens anywhere else in India or the actor does not have respect for the rules enforced by MCA as happens with many of the celebrities/ people with 'connections' in India. The rules of the state should be respected and feared by the people which does not happen in our country.
This kind of incident happens only in India because people think that
This incident plus the recent IPL controversy of fixing and Shah Rukh's involvement, all coming at the same time suggests someone is trying to tarnish this year's successful IPL. I mean what are the chances expecially in the case of the fixing controversy which happened last year and is coming up now.
@Pravin,
I was born and brought up in India and i would say vijay's comments makes sense. Crimes get reduced only when people realise that everyone is equal under the "law of the land". Is that the case in India? No. In our country, there is one law for the rich and powerful and another law for the middle class, poor. Foreigners take advantage of our incompetent system, nothing else. The shooting on fishermen by italians is one such example.
Agree with Pravin. There are a lot
of people like Vijay in this country
who don't understand what they are
talking about. This person has
connected isolated events and
concluded that India cannot host events. Illogical and utter nonsense.
Again an IPL-related incident.
Come to think of it,I can't think of one good thing that has come out of the IPL. Let's get rid of
it. Please.
I think there are too many overrated foreign players being picked by the IPL teams. Instead pick the Indian players and pay them a good salary. The foreign players are taking too much money are spoilt and also on occasion mis-behaving. Glad that SRK has been banned.
I agree with Vijay. How could you say so
She mst disclose the names of people who are coercing her to withdraw the case. That
will show the world the faces of corrupt people.
I completely agree with Pravin.
big celebrities big name big luxury alas big inhuman behaviour big depression big failure. reson is not recognising the purpose of life...a man will behave only as an animal unless he knows who he is who has cretaed him and for what purpose. search the purpose of life...
International players represent their countries. They should always double check their actions when they are travelling. Incidents like this should never take place, but when someone is representing his country, he should be even more cautious of what he is doing and how he is behaving. It directly leads to a tainted impression of his country.
This is in response to Vijay's comments.I think Vijay is not living in
India.All these incidents happened are individual related & not to a
nation i.e.India.This has become a fashion nowadays to blame India for
all & sundry.One has to see the true story behind all these controversies.It will be very immature to pass such comments.
Its very difficult to host even small events in India. The system over
here doesn't support so much rush and handling of human and other
resources like in case of IPL. First finding spot-fixing cases followed
by SRK's fight and then this molestation crime is nothing but
reflections of incapability of hosts!!!
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