Defending Indian Premier League champions Chennai Super Kings announced on Saturday that New Zealand pacer Scott Kuggeleijn will replace the injured Lungi Ngidi in their squad.
The 27-year-old is expected to join the team next week.
He is the son of former New Zealand cricketer Chris Kuggeleijn and made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in Auckland in January, also playing the three-match T20I series against India at home.
However, the signing has created a stir on social media, given the background of the New Zealand player.
Kuggeleijn has faced two rape trials in 2016 and 2017, where he faced charges of raping a woman in a flat in 2015. The first jury couldn’t decide on the verdict while the second found him not guilty. In 2015, the allegations were by two separate victims of two different incidents that took place in March and May 2015.
But despite the verdict, the trials made headlines in New Zealand then and prompted outrage, including signs at the stadium during the India series, because of the details that emerged.
He is said to have admitted the woman had said no at least twice and apologised to her the next day. Also, the defendant’s line of query is court was said to have been insensitive and perpetrated rape culture.
But first, what did the ‘not guilty’ verdict actually mean? According to New Zealand Herald, “The New Zealand justice system determined that it was not possible to ascertain beyond reasonable doubt that Scott Kuggeleijn held a young woman down and raped her. That’s what a not guilty verdict means. That the jury could not be certain – beyond reasonable doubt – whether a crime had been committed.”
But the testimony during the trial was enough to suggest that Kuggeleijn was not completely blameless. A post on Sexual Politics Now detailed what happened during the trials.
It was the language used by the cricketer himself and line of questioning that had made the case so prominent and has sparked outrage over his inclusion in the team with a complete glossing over the case. The much larger problem is the silence around the entire issue, from New Zealand Cricket to now the Indian Premier League.
Here’s a brief timeline of what happened with the case.
According to a story on ESPNCricinfo, the then first-class cricketer was remanded on bail after pleading not guilty to charges of sexual violation and indecent assault.
“The allegation of sexual violation by way of rape is related to an incident on May 17, while the allegations of indecent assault pertain to incidents that took place between March 2 and 6,” the report continued.
In 2016, the Kuggeleijn case to be re-tried because of a hung jury, which means jury could not reach a verdict. In 2017, has been found not guilty of rape by a jury at the Hamilton District Court.
In 2019, when he made his debut for New Zealand, there were many publications slamming the cricket board for their silence on the allegations. A “No means no” banner was on display at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, while security personnel confiscated the banner and escorted the woman holding it away from her seat, according to ESPNCricinfo. NZC and stadium officials did apologise for the act and said it was an over-reaction. However, other signs appeared at Eden Park came up, referring #MeToo and consent.
As of now, there has been no comment or action by the home board and if he is set to play in the IPL, a no-objection certificate has evidently been provided. But, a season after the league decided to ban Steven Smith and David Warner for ball-tampering controversy, allowing the recruitment of Kuggeleijn has not gone down well.
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