Finally, there is some closure to the Harbhajan Singh racism controversy after Judge John Hansen cleared him of the racial abuse charge, and instead penalized him for using abusive language. The full text of Hansen's judgement can be found here.
Compared to how Mike Procter, the ICC match referee handled the same case, Hansen seems to have approached the issue much more methodically and sensibly. He has documented the evidence, explained his analysis and justified his conclusions, leaving no room for debate. If only Mike Procter had handled the issue similarly, there wouldn't have been so much drama!
Earlier, when Harbhajan was first banned, I had blogged that though Harbhajan should be punished, he shouldn't be named a racist. Echoing similar sentiments, Judge Hansen in his report says -
"...But in my view even if he had used the words “alleged” an “ordinary person” standing in the shoes of Mr Symonds who had launched an unprovoked and unnecessary invective laden attack would not be offended or insulted or humiliated in terms of 3.3..."
He is essentially implying that even if Harbhajan had used the word 'monkey', he still would have cleared him off the racial abuse charge!
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