Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was briefly arrested over the weekend as part of an investigation into offensive remarks allegedly made by him against the country’s scheduled castes on social media, Indian media reported on Monday.
The former all-rounder was arrested as per court orders before being released on interim bail on Saturday, a senior police officer in Haryana state said, according to NDTV.
Singh, 39, had come under fire after his June 2020 Instagram live video with ex-teammate Rohit Sharma was widely shared online. Singh was accused of using a casteist slur while discussing cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal’s TikTok videos.
Singh had later apologised for what he termed his “unintentional remarks”, saying he had been “misunderstood” and that his “love for India and all its people is eternal”.
NDTV quoted sources as saying that Singh had appeared before the police in Hisar city, accompanied by four to five staffers and security personnel.
In February, a Dalit activist in Haryana had filed a complaint against Singh, demanding his arrest and registration of a case under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which seeks to prohibit discrimination. On court orders, a first information report was registered in the case.
Rajat Kalsan, the activist, was quoted as saying: “On October 6, the police was asked to include Yuvraj Singh in the probe. We have learnt that yesterday, Yuvraj Singh surrendered before the police in Hisar, he was questioned for two to three hours and then arrested. He was then released on bail bonds.”
Accusing Singh of insulting the whole Dalit community, Kalsan said he would challenge Singh’s bail in the Supreme Court that could result in the cricketer being put behind the bars.
Singh, India’s middle-over batting lynchpin in two World Cup triumphs, retired from international cricket in June 2019 but continued to play on in Twenty20 leagues around the
