Vijay Mallya-owned United Spirits today declined to react to legal notice slapped against them by Harbhajan Singh's mother Avtar Kaur for a TV commercial which shows Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni "mocking" the ace spinner.
"We have no comments to make at this stage," a company spokesman said.
However, UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya was quoted in the media as saying that he was not looking to pull the controversial advertisement campaign off air.
"It was not meant to attack Harbhajan Singh personally. It was just a spoof between two brands. We have received a long-winded legal notice and our lawyers are studying it," Mallya was quoted as saying.
Click here to see the controversial ad
"There are several TV programmes that spoof our politicians. What will happen if all of them start sending legal notices?" he said.
Mallya added that his lawyers would recommend the next course of action.
The United Spirits was yesterday served with a legal notice by Avtar Kaur, Harbhajan's mother, through his lawyers, Dewani Advocates & Consultants.
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Harbhajan's lawyers, in the legal notice, claimed that the commercial mocks the off-spinner, his family and the Sikh community.
While sending the notice for ad spoof, the off-spinner's mother Avtar Kaur said these kind of advertisements bring "disunity and friction" in the Indian team and can be termed anti-national.
The notice demands that the company publicly apologise to Harbhajan's family "through widely-read newspapers as well as television channels prominently" apart from removing the advertisement within three days of receiving the notice.
"My client is serving you with the instant notice to give you an opportunity to accept your mistake and make amends. Failing this, we will have no other alternative than to take appropriate legal action including that of filing proceedings for defamation, damages and all such civil as well as criminal actions," the notice, signed by lawyer Shyam Dewani, said.
Apart from Mallya, the notice has been sent to UB Executive Vice Chairman SR Gupte, President & CFO Ravi Nedungadi, Deputy President Harish Bhat and Executive VP (Corporate Affairs) Nandini Verma. It also seeks a compensation of Rs 1,00,000 to the cricketer's family towards the cost of the notice.
Harbhajan and Dhoni endorse rival brands. The Indian skipper in an McDowell's No 1 Platinum advertisement allegedly makes fun of Harbhajan, who had featured in a advertisement for Royal Stag.
Both Royal Stag and McDowell's No 1 are competing whiskey brands in the market, coming in the same price band. The ads, however, are for the soda brands.