On Sunday (20th October), the elite Khar Gymkhana terminated the playing membership of Indian cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues after her father Ivan repeatedly booked its premises for ‘Christian conversion meetings’ using her ID.
Jemimah Rodrigues, who plays for the women’s cricket team, was the first female cricketer to be awarded the membership of the top sports club in March last year.
According to Khar Gymkhana’s managing committee member Shiv Malhotra, Ivan Rodrigues booked the sporting club’s banquet hall for ‘meetings to religious conversions.’
It was reportedly carried out between March 2023 and November 2024 at the behest of a Christian evangelical group called Brother Manuel Ministries. According to the bye-laws Rule 4A of the constitution of Khar Gymkhana, religious activities are not allowed on its premises.
Testimonies of Khar Gymkhana committee members
“Though Jemimah was granted the membership, her father exploited this privilege by booking the banquet hall for meetings related to religious conversions. From March 2023 to Nov 2024, the hall was predominantly booked on weekends, preventing other members from
securing reservations for their events. This misuse extended to providing discounted rates, and in some cases, security deposit was waived,” Malhotra told The Times of India.
The objection was first raised by ex-president of Khar Gymkhana, Nitin Gadekar, told The Indian Express, “Me, Malhotra and a few other members went to see it. We saw the room was dark, trance music was playing and a lady was saying ‘He is coming to save us’. I was surprised how Gymkhana can allow this in the first place,”
“How can our club president allow such a thing to happen without the managing committee being aware of any of this? I took it up at the AGM yesterday. Everyone agreed that while an inquiry must be initiated, Jemimah’s club membership must be terminated immediately,” he emphasised.
President of the elite sports club denies allegations
A resolution to the effect was passed at the general body meeting, following which the 3-year-honourary membership of Jemimah Rodrigues was terminated. The elite sports club had so far recovered ₹3.5 lakhs in arrears from Jemimah for 35 such events.
Khar Gymkhana president Vivek Devnani however cried foul and claimed that the allegations and accused committee members of ‘politicising’ the matter.
“Khar Gymkhana is scheduled to have its managing committee and trustee elections later this month. These allegations are being made with political motives. No evidence has been offered for any alleged wrongdoing. I would request and trust our wider body of members and the media to be cautious in relying on misrepresentations and falsehoods,” he claimed.
