Cricket
Martina Navratilova asks if cheering for another team is illegal following Ind vs Pak World Cup clash
The former tennis legend tweeted asking if it is illegal to cheer for another team after reports surfaced of people getting arrested in India.
Martina Navratilova tweets
Former tennis legend Martina Navratilova has taken a keen interest in the events that are taking shape in India.
In her latest tweet, the 18-time singles grand slam winner showed her concern about Indians getting arrested ]for cheering for Pakistan on their victory over India at the ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup.
Navratilova quote tweeted news published by the BBC with the caption, "Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested three #Kashmiri students for allegedly celebrating #Pakistan's win over #India in Sunday's T20 World Cup #cricket game."
She remarked on her tweet "Didn't realize cheering for a particular team was against the law?"
Days after the Indian cricket team suffered a defeat against Pakistan, the Uttar Pradesh government announced that it would invoke charges of sedition against those who cheered for the rival team.
According to news reports, several people across Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have been booked because they celebrated Pakistan's victory. In Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, people have lost their jobs as well. Two separate FIRs have been filed against some students, hostel wardens, and college management of the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Kashmir for allegedly raising Pakistan's win and raising "pro-Pakistan slogans".
"Those celebrating Pakistan's victory will face sedition," Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted from his official Twitter handle on October 28. The tweet followed news of the arrest of three Kashmiri college students who hailed Pakistan's October 24 victory against India at the ICC T20 World Cup held in Dubai.
Earlier on October 21, Navratilova took a dig at the Indian government.
In a tweet, she wrote, "Quite the democracy, eh? Trying to catch up to trump, I see. But then Modi and trump were pretty chummy from what I could see… will Modi speak up against this man and his rhetoric? I doubt it…"
