#MeToo: CoA forms committee to probe charges against Johri

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) led by Vinod Rai has constituted a three-member committee to look into the sexual harassment charges against Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) CEO Rahul Johri.

The three-member committee formed on Thursday comprises former judge of Allahabad High Court Justice Rakesh Sharma, former chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women Barkha Singh, and former Director of CBI IPS (Retd) P.C. Sharma. Justice Sharma will be acting as a chairman of the committee. The panel has also been also asked to submit its report containing its findings and recommendations within 15 days.

Taking cognisance of the media reports concerning allegations of sexual harassment made against Johri by a woman, the Committee of Administrators had earlier sought an explanation from the BCCI CEO. Johri submitted his explanation on October 20 denying the allegations.

"The Supreme Court Appointed Committee of Administrators ("COA") met on 20th and 22nd October 2018 to consider the matter. The Chairman of the COA felt that in order to follow due process of law and principles of natural justice, an independent committee comprising distinguished persons who are knowledgeable in this field should conduct a fair and transparent inquiry on an arm's length basis and submit a report containing its findings and recommendation on the way forward. The independent committee could take into account and/or probe all allegations of sexual harassment against Johri while he was employed with the BCCI," the CoA said in a statement.

"After taking legal advice as well as soliciting view-points from other relevant quarters, the proposed members of the independent committee were contacted for their consent. All three proposed members have now given their consent to be part of the independent committee." CoA said.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, a woman alleged that she was sexually harassed by Johri when they were colleague at a satellite TV channel. The allegations were posted on Twitter by another person on behalf of the accuser.