Javed Akhtar, who hit out at Virender Sehwag for his comments on Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, has taken his harsh words back after the cricketer clarified his statements. The lyricist took to his social media account and wrote, “Since Sehwag, undoubtedly a great player, has clarified he was just being facetious and is not anti Gurmehar, I take back my rather harsh words.“

The 71-year-old lyricist had earlier called the former batsman “a hardly literate player“ when he had trolled Kaur for her campaign against ABVP which went viral. In a series of tweets, Sehwag defended himself, claiming that his post in reply to Kaur was an “attempt to be facetious“ rather than one to bully anyone over their opinion. Gurmehar, 20, is the daughter of army martyr, Captain Mandeep Singh. She had started the campaign following the violence at a college in the Delhi University campus. She withdrew from her social media campaign after allegedly receiving threats.