Big relief for MS Dhoni: Supreme Court stays proceedings

In a huge relief to one-day cricket captain M.S. Dhoni, the Supreme Court on Monday stayed all further criminal proceedings initiated against him for a cover photo published in Business Today in 2013 showing him as Lord Vishnu.

A bench of Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and N.V. Ramana stayed the proceedings after hearing senior counsel Subramonium Prasad, appearing for Dhoni. The bench has already stayed proceedings against Arun Poorie of Business Today which published the photo of Lord Vishnu, and tagged Dhoni’s appeal for hearing it together.

Dhoni’s special leave petition was directed against a Karnataka high court order refusing to quash the proceedings.

A complaint was filed in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Bengaluru alleging that by portraying Dhoni as Lord Vishnu, the magazine as well as the former Test captain had hurt the religious sentiments of the people.

In his appeal Dhoni said that the entire complaint against him was false and baseless and it was filed merely to harass the petitioner. Dhoni contended that no court could take cognisance of a complaint filed under IPC Section 295 without the previous sanction of the state government concerned and in this case no such sanction was obtained and yet the CMM proceeded to hear the complaint.

He said he was not guilty of an offence under Section 295 as he neither gave a pose nor was aware of such publication in the magazine. He came to know about the picture only after it was published in the magazine.

Contending that there was no mens rea (criminal intention) he said he had not hurt the religious sentiments of anyone.

Dhoni said the complaint was frivolous and intended to harass him. He prayed for quashing the complaint and an interim stay of all further proceedings till the disposal of the appeal.