The secretary of the Cricket Association of Bihar, Aditya Verma, wrote twice to Vinod Rai, threatening to move Supreme Court if BCCI failed to initiate action.
New Delhi: Secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar, Aditya Verma, shot off a fresh letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai on Saturday (15 September), accusing him of covering up a sexual harassment case against a BCCI employee.
Verma alleged that Rai was not taking any action in this case to favour another senior executive of the organisation.
He further said that if no action is taken in the BCCI case, he will approach the Supreme Court.
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This is the second letter sent to Rai by Verma on this matter. The first letter was sent Thursday, urging Rai to act on the issue.
Talking about the sequence of events in the case, Verma alleged an attempt was being made “to pressure” the woman employee to not pursue the complaint any further.
The letter stated that the accused and the complainant were made to sit down together to sort out the issue during which the accused allegedly cried and wrote an apology letter.
“Sir, this is nothing, but a cover-up of a very serious offence and I regret to say that you have overseen this dastardly cover-up act,” Verma said in the letter.
Alleging that Rai had played an “active part” in the cover-up and encouraged in putting pressure on the woman executive, Verma said that Rai had also acted in violation of the law and the Vishakha guidelines, norms laid down by the Supreme Court to deal with cases of sexual harassment.
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The letter further states that the complainant is likely to face more pressure.
“…but I call upon you to correct your mistake and ensure that the lady does not have to face her predator on a daily basis in the office,” Verma’s letter reads.
It further stated that the woman employee’s workload has gone down drastically after she complained against her senior.
“All this happened not only under your nose, but with your active connivance. You are a father too, and I call upon you to correct this situation and take strict action,” the letter stated.
The letter also mentioned of Verma receiving messages, asking him to apologise to BCCI executives if the ban on his son has to be lifted. Earlier this month, Verma’s son Lakhan Raja was suspended for two years by the Bihar Cricket Association for allegedly participating in an unsanctioned tournament, as well as a corporate tournament, without prior approval.
“I am just bringing it to your knowledge though knowing your track record, I fear that you will do absolutely nothing on the basis of this information concerning this development,” Verma added.
“Such instances of sexual harassment are faced by women employees in other corporate companies too, but some action is initiated after complaints are lodged. But in this case, nothing is being done by BCCI,” Verma told ThePrint.
Rai did not respond to calls or messages from ThePrint.
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This report was originally published on 16 September 2018.