Dubai: Indian cricket team captain, Virat Kohli and his wife, actress Anushka Sharma confronted a man for littering the streets, on Saturday. Kohli posted a video of the incident on Twitter and it went viral.
The young man’s mother has now slammed them for violating her son’s basic right to privacy.
Through his Twitter handle @imVkohli had posted: “Saw these people throwing garbage on the road and pulled them up rightfully. Travelling in a luxury car and brains gone for a toss. These people will keep our country clean? Yeah right! If you see something wrong happening like this, do the same and spread awareness. @AnushkaSharma”
Saw these people throwing garbage on the road & pulled them up rightfully. Travelling in a luxury car and brains gone for a toss. These people will keep our country clean? Yeah right! If you see something wrong happening like this, do the same & spread awareness. @AnushkaSharma pic.twitter.com/p8flrmcnba
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) June 16, 2018
Many reacted by saying it is necessary to confront people who litter. Tweep @Sura_Gr wrote: “Well said @AnushkaSharma awareness needed for well educated people mostly.”
well said @AnushkaSharma awareness needed for well educated people mostly
— Surendar (@Sura_Gr) June 16, 2018
The young man in the video, Arhhan Singh took to Instagram to say that the couple lacked ‘verbal etiquette’.
In his post he agreed that it was careless of him to throw the litter out of his car and on the road, @arhhansingh wrote: “Mrs Anushka Sharma Kohli a little etiquette and politeness in ur dialogue wouldn’t have made u a lesser star. There are all kinds of manners and hygiene .. verbal etiquette is one of them. The garbage that mistakenly went out of the window of my ‘luxury car’, was way less then the garbage that came out from your mouth.”
Singh’s mother Gittanjali lashed out at the couple calling it a ‘stunt’ in the name of ‘cleanliness’, she accused the couple of violating the privacy of her son.
With a screengrab from Kohli’s video, @gittanjali.elizabeth posted on Instagram: “@anushkasharma @virat.kohli... you both posted a video for your fans and followers by violating basic rights to privacy... As a mother, I would like to state that you have not only shamed my son @arhhansingh on social media by not blurring his face, but you’ve also exposed him to unwanted hostility and danger from fanatics for such a small thing that you claim he has done but have no proof of anyways? I am concerned about my son’s safety.”
The response sparked a debate about Singh’s right to privacy.
Instagram user @arshdeep_12_ wrote: “Anushka is no where wrong a sq mm or 100 sq mm litter means litter .. and she didn’t abuse you, she scolded you appropriately and every responsibile citizen should do that with every irresponsible citizen like you. Virat Kohli did the very right thing by shooting and posting the video because people like you should be taught a lesson.”
@deepakv712 tweeted: “This whole ‘Garbage saga’ is being unnecessarily stretched. What Anushka did was not wrong but Virat should have blurred out the face before uploading the video. That’s it.”
This whole "Garbage saga" is being unnecessarily stretched. What Anushka did was not wrong but Virat should have blurred out the face before uploading the video. That's it.
— DV 🏏🇮🇳 (@deepakv712) June 17, 2018
On Instagram @shreyas_js_ highlighted a bigger concern: “I dont know if posting and defaming other fellow citizens is ethical and mannerful. But I know one thing - there are NO bins anywhere on the streets, atleast as far as I know.”
And @saurabhs_23 wrote about the positive impact such videos can have, he also said the couple did not really need publicity: “Sachin [Tendulkar] posted a similar video of people not wearing helmets and that had an impact on me. I started to wear helmet. These people are youth icons. They are followed by millions. If posting such a video can make 100 of those millions to think upon this issues and get better... it’s great. Don’t know how people think it’s for publicity. They already have enough of it. Actually in excess.”
In her post, Arhhan Singh’s mother @gittanjali.elizabeth also went on to highlight, that the couple’s celebrity status does not give them the right to “crush somebody’s image, morale and reputation and expose him to public hate, a boy who is on the verge of starting his ventures....”
She added that it was okay to correct another person but there was a way to do it: “...on the streets you are just a citizen trying to correct another... do it with kindness ...fear karma.”
Anushka Sharma was previously associated with the Indian government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India campaign) and became its ambassador in 2017.
