Assam: Pak cricketer slams the move on the arrest of Youth wearing ‘Afridi’ jersey

GUWAHATI: The arrest of an Indian student for wearing a shirt bearing Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, the all rounder came out all guns blazing terming the act as "shameful".

Ripon Chowdhury, 21, was arrested on Sunday in Hailakandi, in Assam, for wearing a jersey bearing the Pakistani cricketer's name which angered a right-wing nationalist group. The local unit of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha accused the young lad of anti-nationalism and filed an FIR against him.

The group then filed an FIR against him citing the act as anti-national.

The swash buckling Pakistani cricketer chipped in with a reaction criticizing the arrest saying that, "It was shameful to arrest a fan for wearing my shirt. Such incidents don't suit civilized people."

Speaking to a reputed newspaper Hailakandi SP Pranav Jyoti Goswami said that the youth had not been arrested for wearing an 'offensive' jersey but for intimidating and threatening others during the fracas. He was released on bail from the police station itself, Goswami added. "Wearing a jersey is not a crime. We arrested him because he was threatening the people with whom he was having a quarrel during the match. Since an FIR was lodged against him, we followed rules and tagged the FIR in our case," the SP added.

Afridi said fans in both India and Pakistan put the sport above the often-fraught relations between their countries and admired each others' players.

Source inputs: dy365.in/Times of India

Featured image(courtesy): dy365.in