The Jodhpur Court on Tuesday granted relief to cricketers Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul and film director Karan Johar, in a case that was registered against the trio, for some offensive remarks made by the cricketer duo on the talk show “Koffee with Karan,” hosted by Karan Johar in 2018.
According to reports, the High Court dismissed the case filed by one DR Meghwal against the three after they were declared ‘innocent.’
It may be recalled that back in the year 2018, an episode featuring KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya aired on the sixth season of the talk show ‘Koffee with Karan’ hosted by Karan Johar where the two cricketers freely talked about hooking up with girls, being open with their families about sex, and hitting on girls in nightclubs, among other things.
Immediately after the episode aired, online outrage began against the duo’s comments with Pandya, in particular, getting severe criticism. Netizens criticised the duo as they considered the remarks made against women during the show as highly sexiest, and misogynist. Karan Johar was also castigated for encouraging such misogyny on his show.
The controversy became so huge that, at first Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were issued show cause notices by the BCCI for their comments on women on the TV show. The BCCI even dropped the duo from the first one-day international (ODI) against Australia after the controversy.
Following the outrage, Pandya took to Twitter to apologise for the comments he had made on the show. He said, “After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone who I may have hurt in any way. Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone’s sentiments. Respect.”
Filmmaker Karan Johar also apologised for the controversy relating to the comments made by cricketer Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul on his TV show “Koffee with Karan”.
However, the controversy refused to die down. Later, a case was registered against the cricketers and the filmmaker under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint filed by DR Meghwal at Jodhpur’s Luni police station. However, today, three years later, the Jodhpur court granted relief to the trio in the case filed by DR Meghwal.