Cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s Page Vandalised: Centre Summons Wikipedia Executives

Photo courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics & IT today summoned executives from Wikipedia to explain how fake information on cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s page linking him to the separatist Khalistani movement was published on the website. The Centre believes this disinformation could disturb communal harmony and also lead to a law and order situation for the cricketer’s family, NDTV reported quoting media reports.

A high-level panel is likely to quiz the executives of the crowdsourced digital encyclopaedia on precautionary checks and may even issue a show cause notice. Singh faced attacks on social media after he dropped a crucial catch in a thrilling Super 4 Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan on Sunday.

According to the edit history of Singh’s Wikipedia page, an unregistered user replaced the words “India” with “Khalistan” at several locations on the profile, but these changes were undone within 15 minutes by Wikipedia editors, NDTV reported.

India pacer Arshdeep Singh dropped a relatively easy catch of Asif Ali in the 18th over, which led to a massive momentum shift in the keenly watched match. Pakistan went on to win the match by five wickets.