A video showing Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan touching the outstretched legs of girl athletes while chatting with them at an event in Melur in Madurai recently has sparked outrage online.

The girl athletes were reportedly resting after having run a marathon race organised as part of the birthday celebrations of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. After distributing prizes at the Melur Government School, where the event was held, the Minister reportedly greeted the athletes. The video captures him touching the outstretched legs of the athletes and cracking their toes while another guest was seen shaking hands with them.

The video has been widely circulated in social media platforms. DMK leader and former minister S.S. Sivasankar, earlier, expressed consternation over the incident during a press briefing stating that the good-touch-bad-touch lesson which is usually taught to school children should be extended to members of the cabinet as well.

“A person of authority should act more responsibly than get swept away by the moment or the intoxication of power,” said Vidya Reddy, co-founder, Tulir-Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse. “There should be an official, public condemnation of the incident.”

While talking about Tulir’s experience with abuses that take place in the field of sports, Ms. Vidya asked what kind of child protection policies were being enforced by the sports bodies that are responsible for the athletes.

She wondered why, despite a large number of people being present at the venue and with video cameras recording the event, no onlooker raised their voice. “Bystander intervention becomes critical as it serves as an immediate check for abuse,” she emphasised. Such incidents, she maintained, often blurred the boundaries for a child leaving them completely vulnerable to further abuse.