Chennai: Condemning a "lewd and inappropriate remark" by actor Siddharth against badminton player Saina Nehwal on Twitter, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday sought "prompt and strict action" against the actor for using indecent language on social media.
In a statement issued by the NCW, which was shared by its chairperson Rekha Sharma on Twitter, the commission said that it had come across a post of actor Siddhart using lewd comments on Twitter on the post of Saina.
The NCW termed Sidharth's tweet as being "misogynist and outrageous to the modesty of a woman amounting to disrespect and insult to dignity of women on social media platform. (sic)"
Stating that it had taken suo moto cognisance of the issue, the commission said that its chairperson Rekha had written to the Director General of Police, Maharashtra, to investigate the matter and register an FIR under the relevant provisions of law.
Rekha has also written to Twitter India's Resident Grievance Officer, asking the social media platform to immediately block Siddharth's account and take appropriate action against him for posting offensive remarks on Nehwal's post, thereby "outraging her modesty and insulting her right to live with dignity."
Saina on Monday said it was "not nice" to see Siddharth's unsavoury remark after she expressed concerns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent security breach and he could have used "better words" to comment on the matter.
Siddharth's reply to the Olympic bronze medallist's tweet on Modi's security breach has attracted much flak.
"Yeah, I'm not sure what he meant. I used to like him as an actor but this was not nice. He can express himself with better words but I guess it's Twitter and you remain noticed with such words and comments," Saina, who is also a BJP member, said in a statement.
"If the security of the PM of India is an issue then I'm not sure what is secure in the country," she added.
Reacting to Modi's security breach during his visit to Punjab, Saina had 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 anrachists."
In response to this, Siddharth had tweeted, "Subtle cock champion of the worldThank God we have protectors of India (sic)."
Siddharth on Monday took to Twitter to clarify that "Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated."
