Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal's father on Monday condemned the "derogatory" tweet by actor Siddharth against his daughter and demanded an apology from him.
The actor had in a Twitter post on January 6 retweeted a post by Nehwal in which she had expressed her concern over the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Punjab visit on January 5.
Speaking to ANI, Harvir Singh Nehwal said, "I have gone through all the details. Whatever he(Siddharth) said is not right. I got to know that he is a big actor in the South. He used very wrong words against Saina. It's very wrong for him to give such derogatory statements."
Harvir also said that Saina is currently in Delhi and preparing for the India Open 2022.
"I spoke to Saina over phone and she said that she didn't like someone writing about her. Even other organisations like National Commision for Women came in support and said that was very bad and never heard these type of words coming from a gentleman," said Harvir.
"We condemn the statement given by him and he should apologise for his actions, whether it has been given intentionally or unintentionally. It is not good for a woman to be called by these words," he added.
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 today said that the comment by the actor was "misogynist and outrageous to the modesty of a woman amounting to disrespect and insult to the dignity of women on social media platforms."
The actor also 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.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor