The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the criminal proceedings against India ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in which he was accused for hurting religious sentiments by being featured as Lord Vishnu in a business magazine.
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The Karnataka High Court, acting on a petition filed by Hiremath, had said previous year, “A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the consequences of hurting religious sentiments of people…”
The controversy dates back to 2013 when Business Today magazine ran a drawing portraying Dhoni as Hindu god Vishnu, holding various products representing his wide-ranging endorsement deals, including a shoe.
Dhoni had approached the High Court to get relief from ACMM’s order but the High Court had refused to stall the criminal proceedings in the case.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) had directed registration of a case against Dhoni under section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) along with 34 (common intention) of the IPC. He had filed the Special Leave Petition challenging the Karnataka HC order.
The illustration was done by the magazine but Dhoni had to face the cases. These celebrities only sign ads without any responsibility.
The court’s order said that no sentiments were hurt.
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The case in the trial court had been filed by a social activist named Jayakumar Hiremath, who had claimed that Dhoni had hurt religious sentiments because the image on the cover showed him as the many-armed Lord Vishnu, holding, among other things, a shoe in one of his hands.
