After ‘Khalistan’ added to cricketer Arshdeep Singh’s page, Wikipedia restricts edits on the article
The fast bowler’s page was edited with misinformation after he dropped a catch in an India-Pakistan match on Sunday.
Wikipedia has restricted the rights to edit the page of Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh a day after references to the separatist Khalistani movement were added to it, Reuters reported.
The wrongful edits were removed “within minutes” and editing access to the article has been restricted to “trusted users” to prevent vandalism on the page, a spokesperson for Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online encyclopedia, said in a statement. I
ndia’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has also taken up the matter with Wikipedia, the statement added.
Singh, a 23-year old left-arm fast bowler, has been exposed to several hateful messages on social media for dropping a catch during the India-Pakistan cricket match in Dubai on Sunday. Pakistan defeated India by five wickets.
Earlier on Monday, Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar said on Monday that such online activity violated the government’s expectations of safe and trusted information.
“No intermediary operating in India can permit this type of misinformation and deliberate efforts to incitement and #userharm,” the minister of state for electronics and information technology wrote in a tweet on Monday.
He also posted screenshots of edits made to the online encyclopedia page to add the misinformation that Singh was born in “Khalistan” and represented the separatist group’s cricket team.
Meanwhile, The Economic Times reported that the electronics and information technology ministry has summoned executives of Wikipedia to seek an explanation on how the references to Khalistan were added to Singh’s page. However, the ministry has not issued an official statement about any meeting with Wikipedia management.
Several cricketers, including former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, had extended their support to Singh.
“Stop criticising young Arshdeep Singh,” Harbhajan Singh wrote on Twitter. “No one drops the catch purposely...we are proud of our boys.”