MUMBAI: The Wednesday night fracas at Wankhede stadium deteriorated on Thursday into a rigid standoff between Shah Rukh Khan and the Mumbai Cricket Association on Thursday, with a “father’s love for his daughter” being weighed against a “star’s abusive and drunken behaviour”.
Both sides refused to blink, with the MCA filing a police complaint against the Bollywood star for abusing and assaulting its officials in an inebriated state; the Bollywood star, in turn, sought an apology from the association for security guards shoving his daughter and other kids around and its officials’ “unpardonable” behaviour.
The association, which administers Wankhede, is now threatening to impose a lifetime ban on Khan from entering the stadium.
The conflict erupted around 11.30pm on Wednesday after Team Kolkata’s 32-run rout of Team Mumbai. By many accounts, a large group of children accompanying Khan tried entering the stadium’s field to play but were stopped by security personnel at the boundary line. Khan said the guards “manhandled” some children to hold them back and “touched little girls in the garb of security”. This led to an argument, in which Khan and his associates allegedly abused and shoved MCA officials and security guards.
The MCA version differed greatly. In a complaint filed at Marine Drive police station, MCA secretary Nitin Dalal said Khan and his entourage “entered the ground without proper accreditation along with 15-20 boys”. “When a young girl wished him… Mr Shah Rukh Khan abused her in most dirty and vulgar language (like f*** off)… an MCA watchman came forward and asked everyone to vacate the stadium. Shah Rukh charged at the watchman and hit him and continued to use abusive language like f*** MCA, f*** BCCI,” the complaint asserted.
Based on the complaint, the police filed a non-cognizable offence against Khan and two of his associates and invoked Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code. The MCA’s managing committee will meet at 11am on Friday to decide on a lifetime ban on Khan from Wankhede.
Several voices could be heard abusing one another on an audio clip of the Wednesday brawl, which went viral on the internet. At one point, an official can be heard telling Khan: “You talk properly.” In response, Khan asks the official to “talk properly”. Later, someone is heard saying: “T*** m** k* c****, m********.”
During the day, sources said, there were hectic backroom efforts to placate the two sides. IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla told TOI, “It is a very unfortunate incident and we are trying to resolve the issue. No decision has been taken on the ban as yet. I have spoken to both Vilasrao Deshmukh (MCA president) and Shah Rukh Khan.”
In public, though, both sides remained defiant. In an impromptu press conference called at his home, Khan said that his children and their friends were playing with a ball near the field on Wednesday night when he saw from “upstairs that a security guard was manhandling them”.
“It is unpardonable for security officials to physically touch little girls in the garb of security. I came downstairs to tell them not to misbehave with the children. It was the MCA officials who started the tirade, one gentleman came to the spot and said something in Marathi that is unrepeatable. That made me angry and if children with me are misbehaved with, I will behave this way time and again. Yes, I did get angry but I think the officials need to look at their own behaviour first.”
Khan denied he was drunk – a claim made by MCA as well as by its member ACP Iqbal Shaikh – and dismissed the proposed ban from Wankhede, saying: “If this is the treatment that is meted out, I would not want to be there myself…. I will call Deshmukh. I will write a complaint about their behaviour.” He also refuted allegations of him abusing a female fan. “It would be very small of me at this age and day to do something like that.”
Like the Team Kolkata owner, the MCA too stuck to its guns. Its treasurer Ravi Savant said: “Shah Rukh Khan misbehaved and abused MCA security personnel as well as its officials, including our president, Vilasrao Deshmukh, after the match.” Deshmukh added: “Despite (MCA) officials attempting to pacify him, Shah Rukh Khan attacked them and used abusive language. The MCA managing committee has recommended a ban and will take a final call.”
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