Apex court quashes case against Dhoni

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed criminal proceedings against limited overs captain MS Dhoni for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by portraying

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed criminal proceedings against limited overs captain MS Dhoni for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by portraying himself as God on a magazine cover.

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A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi allowed Dhoni’s petition when his counsel, senior advocate Subramanium Prasad pointed that a trial court in Karnataka had issued the summons without following the due procedure laid down in the criminal procedure code. The bench accepted the arguments and quashed the summons.

“We interfere with the order of the High Court and quash the proceedings including the summoning order against the accused… we have taken note of the complaint and the offence alleged while passing this order” the bench said.

The bench also found merit in Dhoni’s arguments that the allegations against him had no basis. “On the basis of the material placed before us, we find no case is made out,” the bench noted.

On September 14 2015, the SC had stayed criminal proceedings against Dhoni on a private complaint lodged by social activist Jayakumar Hiremath, against the cricketer for allegedly portraying himself as Lord Vishnu on the cover of a weekly magazine.

The complainant had claimed that Dhoni had hurt religious sentiments by through the magazine cover, in which he was shown as Lord Vishnu, holding several things, including a shoe

Dhoni had moved the apex court against a Karnataka high court order, in which the court had refused to stall criminal proceedings against Dhoni.