The Chennai Police have summoned actor Siddharth for his tweet about badminton player Saina Nehwal, ANI reported on Thursday.
The actor made a seemingly sexual slur at Nehwal while responding to her tweet in which the badminton player had expressed concern about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy being stuck for several minutes on a flyover in Punjab.
“Actor Siddharth has been summoned,” Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal said. “We’ve actually received two complaints...We only need his statement.”
Jiwal added that owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the police are “thinking about how to get the statement”.
On January 12, the Hyderabad Police’s cybercrime wing had filed a case against Siddharth for his tweet.
The police filed the first information report under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of women) of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act based on a complaint by Prerna Thiruvaipati, the vice president of Hindutva organisation Hindu Jana Shakti.
On January 11, Siddharth apologised to Nehwal through a letter saying that while he may disagree with her on many things, his tone and use of words were unjustified.
Nehwal accepted the actor’s apology, saying she was not “bothered about it” as she was “happy in her space”.
On January 10, the National Commission for Women had said it has written to Twitter India to block the actor’s account over his tweet.
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