After years of ordeal, Bangladesh pacer Jahanara Alam has gone public to expose former selector Manjurul Islam for sexual harassment. Jahanara, who is not a part of the current Bangladesh women’s team setup, having taken a mental health break, explained how she received indecent proposals from the national team management during the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup. In fact, Manjurul, a former Bangladesh pacer, has also been accused of becoming a roadblock in Jahanara’s career as the latter refused to accept his indecent proposals.

“I faced several times (indecent proposal), not once. Definitely, when we are involved with the team, we cannot speak out about many things, even if we want to. When it comes to your bread and butter, when you are known by a few people, you cannot say or protest many things even if you want to,” Jahanara told Riasat Azim’s YouTube channel on Thursday.

Jahanara tried seeking support on the matter from many senior officials in the Bangladesh board. She claimed that even the women’s committee head, Nadel Chowdhury, failed to stop her harassment, while the BCB chief executive, Nizamuddin Chowdhury, ignored her complaints on multiple occasions.

“In 2021, Towhid Bhai approached me through Babu Bhai (Coordinator Sarfaraz Babu). I’ve said this many times before. I don’t know why they misbehaved with me. I tried hard to stay quiet and focus on cricket. But when I tactfully avoided the proposal, Manju Bhai began humiliating and insulting me from the very next day,” Jahanara said in the video.

“Towhid Bhai never spoke to me directly – he sent Babu Bhai instead. After about a year and a half, I submitted an ‘Observation Letter’ to the CEO, not a complaint, explaining everything. Babu Bhai had told me to ‘look after Towhid Sir,’ but I replied, ‘He’s the in-charge, what is there for me to look after?’ I deliberately pretended not to understand the proposal. I’m sharing this so that other girls can also protect themselves this way. That’s when Manju Bhai’s bad behaviour started.”

“The second proposal came from Manju Bhai during the 2022 World Cup. I decided to inform the BCB about everything that had happened over the past year and a half. I told Nadel Sir several times – he’d offer a temporary fix, but soon things went back to the same. I even informed the CEO.”

Jahanara revealed that Manjurul had a habit of getting too close to women players. Many female cricketers started avoiding him because of this habit of his.

“During our pre-camp, while I was bowling, he came up and placed his hand on my shoulder. He had a habit of pulling girls close, pressing them to his chest, and talking near their ears. We used to avoid him – even during handshakes after matches, we would extend our hands from a distance so he couldn’t pull us in. Among ourselves, we’d joke nervously, ‘He’s coming, he’ll hug us again.'”

Narrating an incident involving her and Manjurul, Jahanara said that the former selector came too close to her and asked about her period cycle in a very uncomfortable manner.

“Once he came near me, held my hand, put his arm on my shoulder, leaned close to my ear, and asked, ‘How many days has your period been?’ He already knew, since physios track players’ cycles for health reasons as per ICC guidelines. I don’t know why a manager or selector needed that information. When I said, ‘Five days,’ he replied, ‘Five days? It should’ve ended yesterday. When your period is over, tell me – I have to look after my side too.’ I just looked at him and said, ‘Sorry, Bhaiya, I didn’t understand.'”

As per a report in cricbuzzManjurul has denied all allegations, calling them baseless.

“What can I say apart from terming it as baseless. You can ask other cricketers whether I was good or bad” Manjurul said.

Babu said that she made up the entire story. “It’s unfortunate she is dragging a dead man. I just want her to come up with proof instead of making baseless accusations,” said Babu.

The Bangladesh board, meanwhile, has taken notice of Jahanara’s allegations.

“The allegations are quite serious, and so we have to sit and decide what should be our next course of action, and if required, we will certainly have an investigation,” BCB vice-chairman Shakhawat Hossain said.