The pro-Palestinian supporter of Australian origin, Wen Johnson (24), who ran onto the pitch throughout the India-Australia cricket World Cup ultimate on Sunday, was on Monday night produced earlier than the periods court docket in Gandhinagar after he was detained by Ahmedabad crime department. He has been despatched to police custody for one-day .
He ran onto the bottom at Narendra Modi Stadium simply earlier than the drinks break at round 3pm. He was apprehended by safety personnel after he approached Virat Kohli.
Johnson wore a face masks bearing the Palestine flag and a T-shirt with ‘Stop bombing Palestine’ and ‘Save Palestine’ slogans on the back and front.
He was arrested by Chandkheda police on prices of felony trespass (part 447) and inflicting damage to discourage public servants from doing their obligation (part 332).
Security lapse
His intrusion was seen as a significant safety lapse. Over a 100 VIPs together with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah had been within the viewers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australia’s Deputy PM additionally joined later that night.
The metropolis police commissioner transferred the case from Chandkheda police to Crime Branch, which introduced Johnson in a court docket in Gandhinagar to hunt his remand for additional probe.
Advocate VS Vaghela, showing for Johnson, informed reporters his consumer was remanded in police custody until 5pm on Tuesday although the Crime Branch had sought 10-day custody on varied grounds.
According to the FIR, Johnson, who entered the stadium as a spectator, first jumped the railing after which ran in the direction of the pitch after pushing apart on-duty policemen in his try to achieve Kohli.
Johnson informed the police he was a giant fan of Kohli, the FIR mentioned, including as many as 15 policemen had been guarding ‘Point number R-88’ from the place he jumped the fence.
The ICC doesn’t permit any political sloganeering throughout occasions organised by the worldwide governing physique of cricket and no protests are allowed in India.
Repeat offender
A preliminary probe has revealed Johnson is a habitual offender and has been booked in his residence nation for invading sports activities fields prior to now, police inspector Viraj Jadeja mentioned.
“Johnson told us he is a fan of Virat Kohli and wanted to meet him during the match. He wore the pro-Palestine T-shirt just for the sake of it. Otherwise, his main aim was to meet Kohli,” the police officer had mentioned.
According to a Crime Branch launch issued on Monday, Johnson entered the sector throughout a FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer match this 12 months sporting a ‘Free Ukraine’ T-shirt.
In some movies and images he has shared on his Instagram deal with ‘pyjamamann’, he could be seen intruding throughout soccer video games and being taken away by safety personnel.
In 2020 in Australia, he entered the sector throughout a ‘State of Origin III’ rugby match in Brisbane.
The Police launch acknowledged that “Johnson is in the habit of associating himself with any current international issue and invading fields just to get publicity to become famous as a TikToker.”
“A probe has revealed his father is of Chinese origin while his mother is from The Philippines. He lives in Sydney and works with a solar panel firm,” mentioned the discharge.
The Police checked the video footage and located that whereas coming into the gate, he had placed on the blue jersey of the Indian crew over the T-shirt that had the pro-Palestine slogans. He then eliminated the jersey earlier than working in the direction of Kohli.