Arshdeep Singh row | Cannot allow deliberate efforts to incitement: IT Minister to Wikipedia

23-year bowler Indian bowler Arshdeep Singh viciously trolled on social media after he dropped a catch in match between India and Pakistan in Dubai

The Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday slammed Wikipedia for allowing “deliberate efforts to incitement” after cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s page on the platform was edited to link him to the Khalistani movement.

“No intermediary operating in India can permit this type of misinformation and deliberate efforts to incitement and #userharm - violates our govts expectation of Safe & Trusted Internet,” the Minister said in a tweet.

Also read | IT Ministry summons Wikipedia officials over Arshdeep Singh’s bio tweak after Pakistan match

Mr. Chandrasekhar also attached screenshots of the altered Wikipedia page.

The 23-year bowler was viciously trolled on social media after he dropped a crucial catch in match between India and Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. India lost the match.

In the edited Wikipedia page on Mr. Singh, an unregistered user had replaced ‘India’ with ‘Khalistan’ at several places, while his name was changed to “Major Arshdeep Singh Bajwa”. The changes were corrected and reversed later by Wikipedia editors.

Moreover, there were several tweets from multiple accounts attacking Mr. Singh. A lot of Twitter users as well as politicians and cricketers came out in support of Mr. Singh too.