No Criminal Case Against Rasikh Salam After Age Fudging Ban
Young Jammu & Kashmir paceman Rasikh Salam’s career might have come to a grinding halt due to falsification of his birth date, but he is lucky to escape with only a two-year suspension for the offence.
Young Jammu & Kashmir paceman Rasikh Salam’s career might have come to a grinding halt due to falsification of his birth date, but he is lucky to escape with only a two-year suspension for the offence.
The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has discussed during its meeting on May 18, 2018, the issue of age-fraud in cricket. Two decisions in regards to age-fraud were taken in this regard — 1. Players who are found (after a proper enquiry) to have submitted false/tampered birth certificates will be banned from all BCCI tournaments for two seasons; and, 2. In addition to the above, BCCI may also initiate criminal action against the concerned player and/or any other person responsible for submitting false/tampered birth certificates.
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However, in the case of Salam, the BCCI has decided not to pursue any criminal case and just banned the youngster for a period of two years.
“We are not going to pursue any criminal case against Salam. The rule is quite clear that anyone tampering with ‘date-of-birth’ or ‘place-of-issue’ will be banned for a period of two years. The CoA had discussed ‘age verification’ in the meeting but BCCI felt that in this case there was no need to file a criminal complaint," BCCI General Manager (Cricket Operations) Saba Karim told CricketNext.
Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) were the ones who brought this matter of discrepancy in age to the BCCI after they were informed about it by the J&K national school board.
“There was a discrepancy in the age by about 6-7 months in the certificate he submitted to the school board and papers submitted to us. We immediately forwarded the matter to the BCCI for them to investigate," JKCA CEO HS Bukhari told CricketNext.
Asked if JKCA will appeal this two-year ban imposed by the BCCI, Bukhari said, “The BCCI rules in this matter are quite clear. Salam or his parents made the mistake in this case and they will have to bear the consequences for it. The rules are in place and it’s fair for everyone."
The JKCA CEO felt that young Salam was bearing the consequences for someone else’s fault. “It’s clear that Rasikh is too young. The parents should have been careful and ensured that nothing like this happened. However, it’s disappointing that Rasikh will be banned for two years," Bukhari said.
The young paceman from Kulgam district in J&K burst into the limelight when IPL-12 champions Mumbai Indians bought him for Rs 20 lakh. Although he played in only one game for MI, Salam impressed everyone with his pace and was also picked for the Under-19 earlier this month for a one-day tri-series in England.
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