Nirmal Purja should be treated as innocent until proven guilty: ISPO

KATHMANDU: The sport inspiring magazine ‘ISPO’ has expressed sadness over the allegations of coercion and sexual harassment levelled against world record climber Nirmal Purja, informing that they would wait for the truth to come out.

Issuing a statement, the sport inspiring magazine ‘ISPO’ said: “We are deeply disturbed by these allegations. The promotion of integrity, respect and fairness beyond sport is a central concern for us. We want to make it unequivocally clear that sexual harassment and any form of physical or mental abuse have no place in our ranks and will not be tolerated.”

“We have come to know Nirmal Purja as a person of integrity. For this reason, we apply the presumption of innocence until the allegations and facts have been fully clarified.”

“At the same time, we make it unmistakably clear that the moment the allegations prove to be true, we will immediately terminate the cooperation and withdraw the ISPO Cup from Nirmal Purja,” according to the statement.

Five years ago, a Finnish woman had accused Purja of sexually harassing her.

Purja was dragged into controversy after The New York Times published an article based on the same.

Denying the allegations, Purja had already said that he would move the international court.