MUMBAI: The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Wednesday slapped a show-cause notice on Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, and sought an explanation within 24 hours for their misogynistic and sexist comments on the TV chat show ‘Koffee with Karan’.
Pandya, who is currently with the Indian team in Australia that is just coming off a historic maiden Test series win, issued an apology for his “crass and cringeworthy comments”, saying he got “carried away by the nature” of the show. Cricketer KL Rahul is still to respond to the criticism.
“We have sent show-cause notices to Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for their comments. They have been given 24 hours to give an explanation,” CoA chairman Vinod Rai told newswire PTI.
Quoting a source, PTI reported that his comments were deemed “crass and cringeworthy”, prompting the BCCI to ponder on whether Indian cricketers should appear on “such non-cricket shows” after this.
BCCI officials told Hindustan Times that Pandya’s apology on Twitter was not enough as he acted irresponsibly despite being an international cricketer.
Speaking to the daily, a senior BCCI official said that the matter was far from over. “This attempt at an apology does in no way bring the issue to closure. This merely shows how lightly he takes the gravely serious issue of respecting women. His conduct was unacceptable. He needs to understand the impact the utterances of an international cricketer have in this country but more importantly he needs to learn how to differentiate between the right and the wrong. Right now he seems to merely respond to the outrage and not to his own thought process and conduct,” he said.
Former BCCI general manager (Game Development) Ratnakar Shetty – currently associated with Uttarakhand as BCCI nominee – also made his displeasure known. “This is disgraceful and not acceptable from someone who represents the country and I will be writing to the Committee of Administrators so that these things are not repeated. I have also tweeted how I feel,” he told HT.
Earlier in the day, the 25-year-old all-rounder posted an apology on Twitter for his remarks and wrote, “After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone concerned who I may have hurt in any way. Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone’s sentiments. Respect.”
On the show, Pandya boasted about hooking up with multiple women. He also spoke about how open he is with his parents on the chat show and said he had once told them after losing his virginity, “Aaj mai kar ke aaya. (I had sex today)”
He responded to a question by the celebrated host of the show, Karan Johar, and said, “I like to watch and observe how they (women) move. I’m little from the black side so I need to see how they move.”
Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, posting his take on the controversy on his Twitter handle, noted that the BCCI should also take its share of blame: “It is all very well to issue show-cause notices now to KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya. But I do wish the BCCI spends time in sensitising these young players to life beyond the dressing room; to getting them outside the bubble that is inevitable given the adulation they get.”
Pandya and Rahul had appeared on the celebrity chat show together.
