Rashmi Nair, Delhi-based women’s activist, has moved the Supreme Court asking Rahul Johri to be dismissed as the BCCI CEO over last year’s allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Johri, the current CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was accused of sexual harassment by three women but was cleared of all charges by the Committee of Administrators’ three-member probe panel.
However, Nair has filed the petition in the apex court insisting that the BCCI Ombudsman DK Jain should revisit the case against Johri, reported news service IANS.
“Johri had a very colourful past in each and every organisation where he worked and he managed to get away with all allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by threat, coercion or greed,” the petition said.
In November last year, the charged against Johri were called ‘mischievous and fabricated’ by the probe committee. “The allegations of sexual harassment in the office or elsewhere are false, baseless and have been fabricated and manufactured with an ulterior motive to harm Mr. Rahul Johri...,” head of the probe committee Justice (Retd) Rakesh Sharma stated in his findings.
“The allegations of sexual harassment in the office or elsewhere are false, baseless and have been fabricated and manufactured with an ulterior motive to harm Mr. Rahul Johri...,” head of the probe committee Justice (Retd) Rakesh Sharma stated in his findings.
The three-member probe panel also comprised former Delhi Commission of Women chairperson Barkha Singh and lawyer-activist Veena Gowda.
The petition asked the Supreme Court to examining the case and to know “how Johri was given the benefit of doubt despite difference of opinion within the members”.
It also said that three women came for deposition but for some reason one woman did not depose against Johri.
“He believed and was quoted and saying, ‘women do lot of thing for fame and money’. When she [name not disclosed] did not fall for his advances, and refuse to buckle down she was targeted at work for no reason attributable to her work, but solely because she did not fulfill sexual desires of CEO.
“The three women came for deposition but for some reason one woman did not depose and other two women deposed against Johri. After this team carried out the investigation, there was a difference of opinion between members — Justice (retd) Rakesh Sharma, Barkha Singh and Veena Gowda — and giving the benefit of doubt and clean chit despite one member (Gowda) found him guilty (sic),” the petition, also accessed by DNA, continued.
Johri was on forced leave for three weeks but had resumed office even though one member of the probe committee recommended ‘gender sensitivity counselling’ for him. His return divided the CoA with Diana Edulji not in favour him returning while Vinod Rai saw no problem.