BCCI bans Indian journalist Boria Majumdar for two years over Wriddhiman Saha threat episode

Indian journalist Boria Majumdar has been handed a two-year ban by the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) after being adjudged guilty by the board’s three-member committee (including BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, Treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal and Apex Council Member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia) in Wriddhiman Saha threat episode.

“We will be informing all state units of the Indian cricket board to not allow him inside stadiums. He won’t be given media accreditation for home matches and we will also be writing to ICC to blacklist him. Players will be asked not to engage with him,” a top BCCI official earlier quoted, according to a report by Indian Express.

In February, Saha, a centrally contracted played by the BCCI, had tweeted a screenshot of a message received by a “respected” journalist on WhatsApp after he was dropped from the Indian Test team for the home series against Sri Lanka. In the screenshot, the journalist in question had requested him for an interview, to which Saha did not respond.

“You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this. This wasn’t something you should have done,” read the following messages from the journalist that a disappointed Saha took to Twitter to reveal. “After all of my contributions to Indian cricket..this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is where the journalism has gone,” Saha had written on Twitter.

In the aftermath of the said incident, a host of former cricketers including Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Shastri amongst others, as well as the Indian Cricket Association, stood in solidarity with Saha, persuading him to reveal the journalist’s name before the BCCI decided to constitute a three-member committee to investigate the matter.

Later, Majumdar said that he will sue Saha for defamation, alleging that the cricketer deliberately tampered with the chats and tarnished his reputation. However, as it stands, the BCCI committee adjudged him guilty, ruling that his action “were indeed in the nature of threat and intimidation”.

In a letter directed to its members, BCCI’s interim CEO and IPL COO Hemang Amin wrote: “Dear all, as you may be aware, Mr Wriddhiman Saha had shared screenshots of messages sent by a journalist on social media platform, Twitter, wherein he stated that he felt bullied by the conduct of the said journalist. Mr Saha in the hearing named Mr Boria Majumdar as the journalist. The BCCI had taken cognizance of this incident and deemed it necessary to investigate and probe the matter to avoid the recurrence of such instances with other players. In this regard, the BCCI formed a committee comprising Rajiv Shukla, vice-president BCCI, Arun Dhumal, treasurer, BCCI and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, Councillor, BCCI. The BCCI committee considered the submissions by both Saha and Majumdar and concluded that the actions by Mr Majumdar were indeed in the nature of threat and intimidation. The BCCI committee recommended the following sanctions to the Apex Council of BCCI.”

• 2 year ban on getting any accreditation as a member of the press in any of the cricket matches (domestic and international) in India;
• 2 year ban on getting any interview with any registered players in India; and
• 2 year ban on access to any of the BCCI and members associations-owned cricket facilities.