India has summoned executives of Wikipedia after a national cricketer’s page on the online encyclopedia was edited following a match with rival Pakistan to claim that he was linked to a Sikh separatist movement, a government source said on Monday.
Indian cricketer Arshdeep Singh has incurred the wrath of many social media users since Sunday when he dropped a simple catch in the closing stages of a tense India-Pakistan match. Singh’s Wikipedia page on Sunday said the Sikh cricketer, born in northern Indian state of Punjab, had been selected to play for Khalistan, referring to an independent Sikh state sought by some groups but which does not exist. The Wikipedia page has since been rectified.
A senior government source said the federal information technology (IT) ministry has summoned Wikipedia executives over the incident, without elaborating. India’s IT ministry and Wikipedia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
