The Empty Chair in the Committee Room: BCB's Safeguarding Plan Hasn't Been Tested Yet

Tuesday, 3 November. About a hundred women cricketers are playing a domestic tournament in Cox's Bazar. The same week in Dhaka, the Bangladesh Cricket Board announced a five-member independent committee to hear complaints of sexual harassment. The first thing that struck me reading the story was that four of the five members have been named. The fifth chair is empty. And that chair is reserved for a former cricketer.

The detail looks small. It decides the whole policy. A committee in which players can see themselves is a committee that can reach players. Until that chair is filled, this step by the board will look strong on paper and incomplete on the ground.

What exists, what waits

The committee is chaired by Rashna Imam. Nazia Kabir, Anita Gazi Rahman and Zarin Mahmud Hossain are members. According to Cricbuzz, the committee is formed under a 2026 High Court directive — meaning it rests on a judicial order, not merely on the board's own decision. That difference matters. An ordinary board policy can be quietly discontinued later; a body created by a court directive cannot.

The most important design choice is that no BCB employee or official sits on the committee. The report says this was deliberate, so that investigations are not subject to internal pressure and conflicts of interest. For a board that has faced years of criticism over internal influence, this is unusual and brave. It should be read as a structural safeguard, not a symbolic one.

The policy defines what is unacceptable, how complaints are lodged, and how confidentiality and fairness will be ensured. It has already circulated in the women's wing. So this is not just an announcement; it is a draft. A pop-up banner on the website, a workshop, an educational class and planned publicity — four routes to a complaint have been opened.

The promise of privacy, the question of counting

The committee secretary has acknowledged that players fear publicity. Trust in confidentiality only builds when the first case is filed, investigated properly, and a result is made public. The policy's language is legal, so explaining it to players in plain terms is essential — the secretary admits this himself.

A point needs to be cleared here. Three years ago, while covering a Kolkata derby, I saw how often a stadium crowd misreads a game — when sixty thousand people shout at one decision together, the crowd does not become the truth. The same lesson applies here. The enthusiasm of the announcement is not proof that the committee works. The appointment of the fifth member, the holding of the workshop and the handling of the first complaint — those are the real proof.

One more thing. The committee currently stands at four members. The report says the fifth will be added 'in due course'. The chair that a former cricketer will occupy is the one that builds the bridge of trust with fellow players. Leaving it empty means the bridge between institution and player is not yet built. The report is also unclear on when and how the hundred women cricketers in Cox's Bazar will be connected to the workshop and class — from a journalistic view, this information is recorded without official confirmation.

What changes in the big picture

The question is not whether the committee exists. The question is whether women cricketers will carry their complaints to that room. A safety mechanism works only when someone uses it. A system that stays silent remains on paper.

If this committee runs properly, Bangladesh could add a new page in the way Indian women's cricket once began — in the years when scorecards were not even kept. Retaining women players and keeping them in the game is a bigger issue than a trophy. The biggest question is whether a player will one day say: here, complaining does not frighten me.