NCW seeks FIR against actor Siddharth for tweet on Saina

The National Commission for Women on Monday said that it has written to Twitter to block the handle of actor Siddharth for a tweet on shuttler and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Saina Nehwal calling it “misogynist and outrageous”. The Commission has also asked the Maharashtra DGP to investigate the matter and register an FIR.

Siddharth, who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu cinema, and has also done Hindi projects including Rang De Basanti, in a post made on 6 January, commented on Nehwal’s condemnation of the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Punjab visit on 5 January. Raising concerns over the Prime Minister’s convoy

being stopped for 15-20 minutes on a flyover in Punjab’s Bathinda as the road was blocked by protesting farmers, the ace badminton player tweeted: “No nation can claim itself to be safe if the security of its own PM gets compromised. I condemn, in the strongest words possible, the cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists.”

Retweeting her post, Siddharth wrote, “Subtle cock champion of the world… Thank God we have protectors of India. Folded hands. Shame on you Rihanna.”

The NCW in a statement on Monday said that the comment by the actor is “misogynist and outrageous to the modesty of a woman amounting to disrespect and insult to dignity of women on social media platforms.”

Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma has written to the Director General of Police Maharashtra to immediately investigate the matter and register FIR under relevant provisions of the law. The Commission has sought prompt and strict action against him for using “indecent language for women on social media.”

The Chairperson of the NCW has also written to Resident Grievance Officer of Twitter India to “immediately block” the actor’s account and take “appropriate action” against the actor “for posting offensive remarks” on Nehwal’s post, which it said has “outraged her modesty” and “insulted her right to live with dignity”.

Meanwhile, the actor has responded that he did not mean to disrespect anyone and his “subtle cock” tweet contained no kind of insinuation. “Cock and bull. That’s the reference. Reading otherwise is unfair and leading. Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated. Period,” he tweeted.