BCCI imposes two-year ban on journalist Boria Majumdar for threatening Wriddhiman Saha

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has banned journalist Boria Majumdar for two years after he was deemed guilty of threatening wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha. Saha had earlier accused Majumdar of threatening him via Whatsapp messages for an interview. The post created a storm in Indian cricket with the likes of Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh coming in support of Saha while slamming the 'so called journalist'.

Boria Majumdar banned for 2 years by BCCI

The BCCI released a statement to confirm that Boria Majumdar had been found guilty of threatening Wriddhiman Saha, and as a result, their committee has decided to ban the journalist for two years. Read the complete statement below:

"As you may be aware, Mr. Wriddhiman Saha had shared screenshots of messages sent by a journalist on the 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 Board of Control for Cricket in India 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," BCCI said in a statement. 

"In this regard, BCCI formed a committee comprising Mr. Rajeev Shukla, Vice President, BCCI, Mr. Arun Singh Dhumal, Treasurer, BCCI and Mr. Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, Councillor, BCCI ("BCCI Committee"). The key issues for deliberation for the BCCI Committee in the matter was to ascertain if the messages sent by the journalist were in the nature of threat and intimidation."

"The BCCI Committee considered the submissions by both Mr. Saha and Mr. 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. The Apex Council of BCCI agreed with the recommendations of the BCCI Committee and imposed the following sanctions: i. 2 (two) year ban on getting any accreditation as a member of the press in any of the cricket matches (domestic and international) in India; ii. 2 (two) year ban on getting any interview with any registered players in India; and iii. 2 (two) year ban on access to any of BCCI and members associations owned cricket facilities. In view of the above, we hereby request you to kindly facilitate the compliance of the aforementioned sanctions in your respective associations," BCCI said while imposing the ban. 

Wriddhiman Saha exposed Boria Majumdar's Whatsapp messages

Earlier, Wriddhiman Saha had taken to Twitter to expose threat-laced messages sent to him by a journalist via Whatsapp. While he did not name the journalist at the time, he did reveal his name during the hearing. As a result, BCCI took immediate cognizance of the incident and launched a probe against Boria Majumdar.

After posting various messages sent to him by the journalist via screenshots, Saha slammed him by writing, "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."

The 37-year old posted this tweet after the journalist had accused Saha of insulting him, stating that he would never interview the wicket-keeper batter ever again.

Soon after revealing the journalist's text messages, Saha took to social media once again to clarify his earlier comments. Despite been bullied by Boria Majumdar, Saha chose not to expose him even in a later post, stating that he would only do so if such an incident repeated. 

"I was hurt and offended. I thought not to tolerate such kind of behaviour and didn't want anyone to go through this kind of bullying. I decided I will go out and expose the chat in the public eye, but not his/her name. My nature isn't such that I will harm anyone to the extent of ending someone's career. So on grounds of humanity looking at his/her family, I am not exposing the name for the time being. But if any such repetition happens, I will not hold back. I thank each and everyone who has shown support and extended their willingness to help," wrote the 37-year old on his official social media handles.