Harbhajan's re-hearing, a twist in the tale

Justice Hansen of New Zealand High Court, who has been appointed Appeals Commissioner by ICC, will decide Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s fate on the racial slur issue at the Federal Court in Adelaide on Tuesday.

So far every thing is going smooth and it was appearing that some arrangements have been made behind the curtains to settle this misty issue, but there is a twist in the tale as one new evidence, a transcript of audio from the stump camera, which was not accessible earlier, has come into the light and might be presented during the re-hearing.

Harbhajan Singh was proven guilty, under level three of the ICC code of conduct during the second Test at the SCG, of making a racist comment to Australia's Andrew Symonds following a three-match suspension.

Appeals commissioner John Hansen who will hear Harbhajan Singh's suspension appeal said, while briefing to mediapersons on Monday, there may be an additional evidence, which was not available at the first hearing in Sydney earlier this month. Incidentally, Justice Hansen was not available at the original hearing.

Hansen also said that all the original statements and evidence that were presented in the Sydney hearing earlier this month would also be re-visited. ICC match referee Mike Procter chaired the hearing at that time.

"Under the provisions of the ICC Code of Conduct, Justice Hansen has the power to increase, decrease or amend the decision made at the previous hearing, and his decision will be final and binding to all," an ICC statement said.

The statement also made it clear that once Justice Hansen will arrive in decision, he would provide it in writing to Urvasi Naidoo, ICC's senior counsel and company secretary, who will then forward it to Harbhajan Singh, ICC match referee Mike Procter, and ICC CEO Malcolm Speed before any public announcement.

The on-field umpires Steve Bucknor of the West Indies and Mark Benson of England laid down the charge on day three of the Second Test, following a complaint made by Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Ponting made the complaint after the 116th over of India's first innings

Match Referee Procter conducted the hearing after the Test concluded Jan 6. Harbhajan pleaded not guilty to the charge. Procter found that the case was proved and imposed a ban of three Test matches on the India spinner.

According to the Code of Conduct regulations, Harbhajan, after he appealed against the penalty, was allowed to play until the pending verdict on the appeal being given.

Procedure to be adopted on Tuesday’s re-hearing will be as follows:

* In accordance with normal sporting disciplinary hearings, and previous appeals, the hearing will be in private.

* This will be a re-hearing, with evidence being given by all of the witnesses who gave evidence to the adjudicator, Procter. There may also be some additional evidence, such as the transcript available from the stump microphone, which was not available to Procter.

* The witnesses will give viva-voce evidence that will be led by counsel assisting me, Jordan. Opportunity will then be afforded to both the counsels to cross-examine the witnesses.

* Again, in accordance with the practice adopted for sporting disciplinary hearings, the evidence will not be on oath.

“The hearing will commence tomorrow at a time to be announced in due course and will follow the procedure I have just outlined,” said Justice Hansen.

The only thing that will provide a sigh of relief to Harbhajan Singh is that Justice John Hansen himself has played club cricket of senior level in Dunedin before he moved to Hong Kong where he later led the side of famous Kowloon Cricket Club.

A player will surely understand the plight of a player and especially when someone was falsely implicated in the said case.

Moreover Hansen is currently the president of Willows Cricket Club, North Canterbury and was also the manager of the Hong Kong national side for a spell in the 1980s.