Yuvraj has admitted to having used derogatory term, police tell HC
CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Police have told the Punjab and Haryana high court that former cricketer Yuvraj Singh has admitted to using a derogatory term in a live show and now to wriggle out of it, he is coming up with a different interpretation of what he had said.
Hansi superintendent of police Nitika Gahlaut told the court that Yuvraj joined probe on April 14 and produced a written statement which is almost a reiteration of what he said in the plea before the court.
“The petitioner is not denying the use of the controversial term rather his major contention is that the word used was in the context of someone in inebriated condition and was not a remark made in derogation of any community. He is trying to give another interpretation to save his skin from the clutches of law,” she said in a reply filed on Wednesday.
The police have responded to a plea from the ex-cricketer in February seeking quashing of the FIR. The FIR was registered on February 14, eight months after he apologised for the “unintentional remarks” made during an Instagram live video in April 2020.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of one Rajat Kalsan of Hansi, under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity) and 153-B (assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and
under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention and Atrocities Act, 1989. The high court, on February 25, had asked the police to not take any coercive action against him.
The police say a survey was carried out and it was found that the term in contention is abusive and used in a derogatory sense. “The person who consumes bhaang is called as ‘nashedi’ and not ‘bhangi’ (term used by him),” police said, citing the survey. The police added that Yuvraj could not produce any document in support of his claims.
The police also say him being a resident of Chandigarh would be aware of which castes are under Scheduled Castes category in the region and that it is highly probable that he used the term in a derogatory sense.
The police say the trial court should be allowed to appreciate the evidence and plea should be dismissed in the high court.