SC Quashes Complaint Against MS Dhoni Over Lord Vishnu Photo
The Supreme Court also dismissed the criminal complaint against the editor of the magazine.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the criminal complaint lodged against Mahendra Singh Dhoni over his alleged depiction as Lord Vishnu on a magazine cover.
The apex court also dismissed the criminal complaint against the editor of the magazine. It would be a travesty of justice if the cricketer is prosecuted as he did not do it with malicious intentions, the SC said.
An Anantapur district court in Andhra Pradesh had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 8 January in relation to a case filed against him for “hurting Hindu sentiments”.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Anantapur district vice-president, Yerraguntla Shyamsunder, had earlier alleged in a petition that the Indian captain had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by dressing up and posing as Lord Vishnu for a magazine.
Several criminal cases were filed against Dhoni across the country for posing as Lord Vishnu on the cover of the Business Today magazine in its 3 June 2013 edition. The Anantapur court also summoned the magazine editor Chaitanya Kalbag with regard to the case filed under Section 295 A of the IPC.
The petition also asked Dhoni and the magazine’s editor to apologise. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed criminal proceedings against the cricketer on a complaint lodged for the same issue in a Bengaluru trial court.
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