The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators’ (CoA) silence in the probe against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri after allegations of sexual harassment were levied against him hasn’t gone down well with the state associations. While the CoA had on October 13 given Johri a week to reply to the charge, there has been no statement from the CoA in the matter even though it has been more than a week since the matter first came to light and an explanation sought from Johri.

Surprised by the turn of events, seven state bodies — Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Gujarat Cricket Association, Saurashtra Cricket Association, Goa Cricket Association, Haryana Cricket Association, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association and the Karnataka State Cricket Association — have so far written to the CoA, seeking an answer on how exactly the matter is being investigated and why Johri wasn’t suspended pending enquiry.

In the letters accessed by Hindustan Times, the state bodies have raised their apprehension against the manner in which the Rahul Johri probe is being conducted. While their major grouse is with the CoA’s refusal to provide a clear picture on the matter, the state bodies also wish to know if the steps taken by the committee in this matter is consistent with the steps taken in other matters such as the issue relating to fast bowler Mohammed Shami, the issue relating to Akram Saifi (Rajeev Shukla’s secretary) etc.

They wish to know if all cases of allegations, whether they are of a carnal nature or otherwise, been treated the same i.e. has the same procedure been followed for all matters? The associations also wish to know whether the legal advice being given by the lawyers in this matter is in the best interest of the organisation (BCCI) or in the best interest of Johri?

The state bodies also believe that Johri cannot be allowed to represent the BCCI at the ICC or at the ACC till further notice and the skipping of an ICC meeting cannot be restricted to this last meeting. Also, the state bodies feel that Johri dealing with other corporates, media houses and media professionals may severely damage the image of the board.

The associations have also spoken about an anonymous email in the month of January 2017 which referred to matters of sexual harassment at a place of Johri’s previous employment and the state bodies feel that the latest allegations in addition thereto that pertain to that workplace make the position of Johri increasingly untenable.

As per reports in the media, the earlier head of Discovery, Deepak Shourie has also stated that the allegations against Johri at Discovery must be probed. According to the state bodies, this can’t help but raise more questions regarding the various decisions of Johri and of the BCCI during his tenure. The associations wish to seek copies of all communications and papers relating to all employments done during his tenure.

The state bodies then asked the CoA to communicate to them whether any such incident did in fact take place at the BCCI and whether there is any truth in the news reports published against Johri’s conduct in previous organisation or in the allegations made by IPL petitioner Aditya Verma.

They wish to know if there were any allegations made, whether oral or in writing? Was there any apology given? Was there a letter sought from the victim in return or around that period of time? The state bodies feel that if the allegations made about such an incident are indeed true or if there is even an iota of truth in these allegations, it is a very serious issue and the board must necessarily take stock of the situation.

The associations have specifically requested the CoA and the office bearers to confirm whether any letter of apology was issued by Johri to any other employee and whether a letter from the same employee was also secured either in connection with the apology letter or at about the same period in time.

Finally, the associations have made it clear that Johri is not welcome to be a part of any international match hosted by these state bodies till the enquiry is complete. The state bodies also wish to get a clear picture on how the media firm engaged by the BCCI earlier and now the CoA to provide services to build the image of the BCCI through the media is handling the issue.

Efforts to get in touch with CoA chief Vinod Rai failed as he neither answered calls from Hindustan Times or replied to message sent.

Earlier, as per sources in the know of developments, the lack of a witness against Johri had supposedly put the CoA in a legal fix. “You have to understand the legal position of the whole matter. While there is no doubt that an anonymous mail was sent to an individual who then posted it on social media — author Harnidh Kaur. The user then went ahead and requested the media to not use the post she had published. So, even though Johri has submitted his reply, who does the CoA call to check the other side of the story? Hypothetically speaking, even if Johri is lying, who stands on the other end to provide evidence against him?

“The CoA cannot punish him just because of an anonymous tweet that was then followed with a request that the tweet should not be used as a reference point by the media. If Johri is punished just on the basis of an anonymous screenshot, it will set a wrong precedent. Even if one person had come out and defended the anonymous tweet, things would have been different. In all the other cases in the movement, you have a face behind the accusation. But not in Johri’s case,” the source had told Hindustan Times.

But a senior BCCI official had said that if Shami’s central contract was put on hold, then Johri too deserved to be suspended pending enquiry.

“It was clear about 2-3 days back that the CoA chairman was already predisposed to exonerating Johri since he is his Man-Friday so to speak. The other member of the CoA has been reduced to insignificance in any case. In the case of Mohammed Shami, when accusations were levied against him and a Pakistani girl, then ACU chief Neeraj Kumar had been asked by the CoA to investigate the matter within a week and he did that. He had recorded the statement of that girl as well despite the fact that she was in Pakistan. He had tracked her down.

“In this case, everything was left to Johri to do as he deemed fit. These are serious allegations and the CoA has just demonstrated a token attention to it. It is like asking an offender whether he committed murder and then acquitting him purely on his denial without any independent investigation. This conduct has raised very serious questions on their intent and reinforces the belief that earlier allegations of sexual harassment within the BCCI were hushed up by the CoA instead of referring the said matter to the Local Complaints Committee. This conduct will only help in making the workplace more hostile for the employees,” he had said.

The CoA had on October 13 informed the media that Johri had been given a week’s time to submit a reply against the allegation of sexual harassment. “There are certain media reports today, including in the social media, pertaining to Mr. Rahul Johri, CEO BCCI. The reports disclose allegations of sexual harassment made against Mr. Johri, by an unnamed person through a twitter handle. The allegations also relates to his previous employment with a large media house. The allegations have appeared as a part of the “me too” movement.

“Though, the said allegations do not pertain to his employment with the BCCI, the Committee of Administrators of the BCCI has deemed it appropriate to seek an explanation from Mr Johri in relation to the allegations. He has been asked to submit his explanation within a week. Future course of action will be considered on receipt of his explanation,” it read.

Interestingly, Johri was forced to pull out of the recent ICC meeting in Singapore after the CoA turned down his request for more time to explain the charges levied against him. While Johri has been on leave after the incident came to light, it has been clarified by the board that the leave was sanctioned much earlier as the CEO had some personal work.

First Published: Oct 25, 2018 19:05 IST