Relief for MS Dhoni as Supreme Court stays criminal proceedings

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all further criminal proceedings initiated against one-day cricket captain M.S. Dhoni in a court in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur for a cover photo published in Business Today in 2013 showing him as Lord Vishnu.

A bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra stayed proceedings on a petition from Dhoni seeking transfer of the case from Anantapur to a court in Bengaluru. The court which has already stayed the proceedings against Arun Poorie of Business Today which published the photo of Lord Vishnu tagged Dhoni’s appeal for hearing it together.

A complaint was filed in Anantapur 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 transfer petition Dhoni said that the complaint against him was false and baseless and it was filed merely to harass the petitioner.

He 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 magistrate 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 any one.

He submitted that the said article/photograph was a work of art and in any case, he was not aware of the publication of his image in said fashion. Further, no remuneration was sought or given by the publishers in lieu of publication of said photograph/article.

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 transfer petition.