ISL 2017: Chennaiyin FC fans accused of racism arrested by police

What's the story?

Chennai Police arrested two fans, who were seen harassing a female NorthEast fan at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, in a video that went viral earlier this week, during an ISL match between Chennaiyin FC and NorthEast United FC.

In case you didn't know

A video had surfaced on social media, which showed two fans dancing and making peculiar gestures at a group of NorthEast fans, and harassing them.

NorthEast United FC co-owner John Abraham had said he was deeply disturbed by the incident. Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju said that he was looking into the case closely. Chennaiyin FC also also condemned the incident, saying that they are against racism and will take strong action against the culprits.

The heart of the matter

The two fans, Tamilchelvan and Karthik have been arrested by Tamil Nadu police under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Harassment of Women Act. Tamilchelvan, the main accused, who is a painter, was seen dancing in an obscene manner in front of a NorthEast group which consisted of three women.

He was seen targeting the women in the group and it can also be seen that one of the women pushed Tamilchelvan away. The second accused, Karthik, is an engineering student and can be seen encouraging Tamilchelvan in the video. The accused have been remanded to 15 days of judicial custody.

What's next?

Strict action needs to be taken against all the fans accused of racism, so that such incidents do not happen in the future.

Author's take

Incidents of racial abuse have been taking place all over the world. The authorities in India should take extreme measures to keep racism away from the beautiful game.