Harbajan Singh, the Indian Cricketer was cleared of the racism charge leveled against him by his Australian counterpart Andrew Symonds during the second test against Australia in Sydney on Tuesday. He had appealed against the verdict of Match Referee Mike Procter imposing a punishment of three-test ban on him.
LIMITED OFFENCE: Appeals Commissioner, Justice John Hansen cleared Harbajan Singh from Section 3.3. of ICC CODE OF Conduct to 2.8. In simple terms, this implies that he is cleared of the racist charges,but, confirmed his use of ‘offensive or abusive language’. For this he was fined 50% of his match fee.
CLINCHING EVIDENCE: Justice Hansen had arrived at his conclusion after sifting through all the evidences submitted before him. In the proceedings that lasted for more than five and half hours, Australian Players, Symonds, Michale Clarke, Mathew Hayden and Captain Ricky Pointing testified before him. Harbajan Singh pleaded guilty for using an ‘abusive language’ but denied of making a racist comment.
Perhaps, the clinching evidence that came to the rescue of Harbajan Singh was that of stump microphone. This was the new evidence submitted before the appeals commissioner which showed the complaining of Clarke and Hayden to the Umpires of Harbajan Singh making a racist remark After diligently separating the voices of the player from other noises, Mr.Hansen came to the conclusion that thee was no footage of him uttering racist words.
Reactions to the Judgment: Reacting to the judgment, the involved players said that they had resolved the on-field issue between them. Both the Captains also said they were satisfied with the outcome. Anil Kumble further added that ‘cricket is the winner’ and the joint efforts of the apex bodies of both the countries controlling cricket should be applauded. This also was a fitting response to India withdrawing a level three charge against Brad Hogg.
NOW WHAT NEXT: Now the Indian Team would travel to Melbourne on Wednesday and we can hopefully expect more cricket making the headlines instead of controversies.