On Thursday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a notice to the Haryana government on former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s petition seeking quashing of an FIR filed against him over his alleged castist remarks against another cricketer during an Instagram chat last year.
The court has asked that no coercive step be taken against Singh and a notice of motion has been issued to complainant and the state, senior advocate Puneet Bali, who represented Singh, said.
The state government has been directed to file its response within the next four weeks.
Bali contended that the petitioner and Indian batsman Rohit Sharma were having a live chat on a social media platform in April last year and were discussing how lives had become amid the pandemic and the then prevailing lockdown.
The advocate said Yuvraj Singh had mentioned about two other cricketers in a friendly manner, both of whom were his friends, and added that during the conversation, it was never the petitioner’s intent to disrespect them or any community.
Earlier this month, the Haryana Police had filed an FIR against Singh over his alleged casteist remarks against another Indian cricketer.
Mr Singh (39) had apologised for the remarks, saying he “unintentionally” hurt public sentiments.
A case was lodged under various sections of the IPC and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on a complaint by lawyer Rajat Kalsan at the Hansi Police Station in Hisar.
Kalsan had filed the police complaint last year. He had alleged that Singh’s comment had hurt the sentiments of the Dalit community, stating that a large number of people had watched the video on social media.
Expressing regret over the comments, Singh had tweeted, “I understand that while I was having a conversation with my friends, I was misunderstood, which was unwarranted. However, as a responsible Indian I want to say that if I have unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments or feelings, I would like to express regret for the same.”
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