India cricketer Hardik Pandya on Thursday distanced himself from a tweet denigrating Dr BR Ambedkar, posted from a parody account, and announced that he would respond to a Jodhpur court which had ordered a First Information Report to be filed against him based on the fake tweet.
The copy of the complaint showed that the comment was not posted from Pandya’s verified Twitter handle.
In his statement, the 24-year-old said that the tweet in question was posted from a fake and unverified account using his name and display image.
“I use only my verified twitter handle to make official communications via twitter and the said tweet was posted by a spurious account, pretending to be me,” Pandya said in the statement.
“I have the utmost respect for Dr BR Ambedkar, the Indian Constitution and the many communities that call India their home and I would not indulge in making any kind of statement which is derogatory and/or which insults the sentiments of any community.
“I use social media to interact with my fans and I believe that in this age of social media one must be vigilant of misinformation and act responsibly.”
The India all-rounder said that he would make necessary submissions in court to clarify his position and highlight the issue that the said tweet was posted by an imposter posing as him in order to tarnish his reputation.
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