Viral Video: UP Kabaddi players served food in toilet; sports officer suspended

The UP government's Sports Directorate has blamed 'defective operations' for the incident that has caused 'immense slander against the department and the government', following an outrage.

A video of female kabaddi players (U-17) being served food inside a toilet in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district have triggered massive outrage and led to the Yogi Adityanath government's Sports Directorate suspending regional sports officer Animesh Saxena.

Viral video of under-17 kabaddi players in UP's Saharanpur being served food in the bathroom.

The video - believed to have been shot September 16 - shows the girls collecting food - rice and vegetables - from inside a toilet; they can be seen serving themselves from large open plates and containers kept on the bathroom floor.

The video has sparked fury online, with many on Twitter condemning the incident. The video has also been shared by the Congress and Jayant Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, as well as Y Satish Reddy of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and other political leaders.

"Kabaddi-playing daughters of UP were served food in the toilet. The BJP government, which has spent crores on false propaganda, does not have the money to make good arrangements for our sportspersons. Disgraceful!" the Congress fumed.

"It that regional officials and stakeholders' defective operations led to this incident and the Chief Secretary (has called) for strict action against the regional sports officer..."

"There was a state-level tournament in Saharanpur which received some negative reporting… Since it was a huge competition in which a lot of children participated and reports of improper arrangements have surfaced, the matter will be looked into seriously."

District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh told news agency ANI action will be taken 'in a week'.