Court summons for Preity Zinta on IPL ads

Chandigarh:

A local court on Monday issued summons to Kings XI Punjab co-owners Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia on a complaint alleging hurting sentiments of people by using photographs of freedom fighters, including Bhagat Singh, in their Indian Premier League franchisee advertisements.

The summons were issued by additional chief judicial magistrate Anshul Berry on the basis of a complaint filed by a city-based NGO Global Human Rights Council (GHRC) few days back. The court has summoned Zinta and Wadia at the court on April 2.

In their complaint, GHRC had raised serious objections on the publishing of photographs of some freedom fighters, including Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, in the advertisements of Kings XI Punjab. They had also filed a complaint in this connection with Punjab police.

"Earlier summons could not reach the guilty as they were travelling at various match venues in the country. Now I will personally go to hand-over the summons to Preity Zinta and other people at Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium," Arvind Thakur, president of GHRC, said.

He said, "They are saying that they have already rendered a public apology through news stories in some daily newspapers. But so far they have not given any assurance that they will not indulge in such activities in the future. Therefore we just want them to render an apology before the court."

Kings XI Punjab will play their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at PCA stadium at Mohali on Wednesday.