Mike Procter's decision to believe Symonds' accusation of Harbhajan Singh and to disbelieve both Harbhajan and Sachin Tendulkar that the sinful word "monkey" was not uttered, despite lack of any evidence supporting the accusation, was clearly biased and perhaps racist.

Procter has, in the recent past, shown a similar tendency of distrust against other subcontinental sides, most notably against Pakistan when he decided to agree with Daryl Hair, the Aussie umpire subsequently forced out of ICC, that the Pakistanis had tampered with the ball despite lack of any evidence that they had.

Then, as now, Procter's subjective judgments were overturned after independent review.

Procter is also famous for banning Rashid Latid for 5 matches for claiming a bump catch in a Test match, however the same official has ignored bump catches claimed by Clarke and Ponting in the current series, the former of which proved crucial in deciding the result of a Test.

He also has overlooked serious offenses by Aussie and English players while exercising the harshest penalties possible on subcontinental sides, as when he took no action on significant dissent and abuse on field by Glen McGrath against Ramnaresh Sarwan during a Test. While he has imposed heavy fines and threatened bans on Sourav Ganguly for over rates that were even slighly behind, he has ignored incredibly slow over rates by Ponting's pacemen in the series against India, which normally require multiple-match bans on Ponting per ICC rules.

Why is Procter, an old South African who grew up in an apartheid environment shunned by the world, and has repeatedly given biased judgments against  non-white sides which have been overturned but brought disrepute and controversy into the game, allowed to continue as match referee?

Why has Harbhajan Singh been fined a full 50% of his earnings for abuse while full-time abusers like Symonds (who needlessly initiated the fracas that blew up into an international incident), Ponting and Hayden get away scot-free?

BCCI would be foolish if they allowed Procter to continue within ICC, and if they do not appeal against the fine imposed on Harbhajan in the absence of a similar penalty on Symonds and his abusive colleagues.

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