An Indian student was arrested in a small town in the northeastern Indian state of Assam on Sunday for wearing a Pakistan team shirt bearing the name of that team's all-rounder Shahid Afridi. The arrest of Ripon Chowdhury, 21, came while he was watching a local cricket tournament following a complaint to police by a Hindu nationalist group.
A police source, who spoke on the condition of anominity, said: A complaint was lodged against [Chowdhury] by a local right-wing outfit. We arrested him based on the complaint but gave him bail immediately”. The source refused to confirm media reports that Chowdhury had been charged with obscenity in a public place.
Afridi called the arrest “shameful” and that “such incidents don't suit civilised people”. He said fans in both India and Pakistan put the sport above the often-fraught relations between their countries and admired each others' players. "You cannot stop fans from supporting a player by arresting them [and] sport and politics should be kept apart as such incidents go against the principles of sportsmanship”.
Last January a Pakistani fan was arrested for waving the flag of India after his idol Virat Kohli struck a match-winning knock against Australia (PTG 1750-8725, 30 January 2016). Umar Daraz, 22, was charged with sedition and faced up to a decade in prison, but was later quietly released by officials in the central town of Okara.
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