BCCI CEO Rahul Johri cleared of sexual harassment allegations, but not with unanimous verdict

What's the story?

Rahul Johri, the chief executive officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been going through one of the worst phases of his career in recent times. Allegations of sexual harassment have cast a dark cloud over his work and influence with the BCCI.

However, the evening of Wednesday has brought him some news, as he has been cleared of the allegations - albeit not with a unanimous verdict.

The background

Johri had worked as a media manager at different news channels and magazines in the past, such as Aaj Tak and Hindustan Times.

Around a month ago, he was accused of sexually harassing quite a few women as part of the #MeToo movement. He was first accused by an author named Harnidh Kaur, who shared the statement of an unnamed woman claiming to be the colleague of Johri. The woman alleged that Johri had asked for sexual favors in exchange for offering her a job.

About 20 days later, one more girl accused Johri of a similar misdeed.

In the wake of the allegations, Johri was asked to leave the official duties of BCCI until he proved himself not guilty. His case was in court and there was a panel appointed to look into the details.

The details

The probe panel, consisting of Rakesh Sharma (Allahabad High Court retired Judge), Barkha Singh (Chairperson of Commission of Women) and Veena Gowda (Lawyer Activist) was appointed for investigating the case. The panel recently submitted their reports to the Committee of Administration (COA).

As per the report, Rakesh Sharma and Barkha Singh concluded that the allegations against Johri were baseless. However, Veena Gowda said that Johri's behavior was inappropriate and that he needs to undergo gender sensitivity counseling.

The Chairman of COA Vinod Rai concluded that the 2:1 verdict suggested Johri was innocent, and asked him to re-join the BCCI and continue with his work. But the other member of the COA, Diana Edulji, didn't approve of that and demanded Johri's resignation.

Since there is no consensus between the two members of COA, Johri has been given the clean chit and asked to continue in his role as BCCI CEO.

However, the victims haven't accepted this decision and are likely to go to a higher court.