Despite the fact that the BCCI CEO, Rahul Johri has resumed his duties, there some questions regarding the decision of the three-member independent panel finding him not guilty of the sexual harassment allegations leveled against the CEO. In particular, the observations of Lawyer-Activist Veena Gowda, a member of the panel, are increasingly becoming the focus of attention.

Extracts from the Findings/Recommendations of the Independent Inquiry Committee have been uploaded to the BCCI website and Gowda’s investigations have left people more curious. She has made three observations, identified as bullet points – A, B & C. Inexplicably, bullet point A has been removed entirely from the report uploaded to the BCCI website. The other two make some scathing observations about Johri:

b) The Conduct of Mr. Rahul Johri at Birmingham, as a CEO of an institution such as BCCI, is unprofessional and inappropriate which would adversely affect its reputation and the same has to be looked at by the concerned authorities.

c) In view of his conduct at Birmingham as well as keeping in mind the allegations made by Ms. X and his conduct before this Committee with respect to the photographs submitted, it is essential that Mr. Johri undergo some form of gender sensitivity counseling/training.

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As per the reports of CricketNext, the point ‘A’ stated: “The internal complaint made by a BCCI employee was not handled as per the law by the COA and the BCCI. They went ahead and closed the concerns of the complainant without following the correct process and the COA and the BCCI should be held accountable for it.”

However, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) hasn’t given any confirmations regarding the description of point A. Gowda’s recommendation suggested that when a female employee of BCCI complained to Rai and Edulji about facing harassment from Johri. It has been believed that after a “written apology” from the CEO and persuasion from Rai and Edulji, this employee withdrew her resignation and continues to serve in the board, though she is no longer reporting directly to Johri.

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Rai’s handling of the entire process is also being questioned within the BCCI. While Edulji has publicly stated that she had either wanted Johri to resign or be asked to leave. However commenting on same, Gowda recommendation stated that Edulji’s suggestion would “adversely affect” the reputation of BCCI, “concerned authorities” must look at the matter was also ignored.

According to Vinod Rai’s opinion, Gowda has not found Johri guilty of sexual harassment and Diana had recommended that he be “counseled”.