By IANS
Adelaide : The Indian cricket board’s strong stance paid rich dividends as off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was cleared from charges of racial abuse though he was penalised for verbal abuse by independent appeals commissioner Justice John Hansen, who heard his appeal against a three-Test ban here Tuesday.
After the hearing, the ban was revoked and Harbhajan was docked 50 percent of his match fee from the Sydney Test. Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds had alleged that the Indian spinner had hurled racial abuse at him during the second Test this month but Harbahajan was found guilty of only verbal abuse.
On Jan 6, South African match referee Mike Procter had judged the 27-year-old spinner guilty of breaching Level 3.3 of the International Cricket Council (ICC) code of conduct though Harbhajan pleaded not guilty.
Umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson laid the charge against Harbhajan after the close of the day’s play, Jan 4, following a complaint from Ponting.
Two days later after the filing of the complaint, Procter imposed a ban of three Test matches on the spinner, infuriating the Indian team and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and they appealed to the ICC to conduct a fresh hearing.
The Indian team and the BCCI lodged a strong protest against Procter and the way in which the sentence was delivered, putting a question mark on the future of the tour. The ICC immediately stayed the ban till a fresh hearing and appointed Justice Hansen as the appeals commissioner.
In addition to Justice Hansen of New Zealand and Harbhajan, Symonds, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, India skipper Anil Kumble, Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Australian cricketers Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke were present at the hearing.
Tendulkar, Hayden and Clarke had been nearby during the on-field incident during the third day of the Sydney Test.
Prior to the hearing, a letter signed by all the players involved – from both Australia and India – was tendered into evidence as an agreed statement of facts as to what took place during the Sydney Test.
The hearing lasted the full day before Justice Hansen and included video and audio evidence of the incident in question. During the hearing, oral evidence was called by John Jordan, counsel assisting Justice Hansen. The judge also heard evidence from all witnesses to the exchange between Harbhajan and a number of Australia players.
These witnesses were then cross-examined by Brian Ward, counsel representing the Australia players, and advocate V.R Manohar, who represented Harbhajan. At the conclusion of the oral evidence, submissions were heard from all counsel.
Justice Hansen said he was convinced that, based on all the evidence submitted before him, the charge of a Level 3.3 offence was not proven but that Harbhajan should be charged with a Level 2.8 offence.