Former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni lands himself in trouble as Karnataka High Court filed a case against him and five editorial staff of that magazine for allegedly “denigrating” a Hindu God.
“A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the consequences of hurting the religious sentiments of people. He should have known the consequences of doing such ads,” said Justice A N Venugopal Gowda in his oral observation, Press Trust of India reported.
The complainant, Jayakumar Hiremath, a city-based RTI activist, had alleged that the 34-year-old cricketer is seen on the cover of a business magazine as Lord Vishnu, holding several things, including a shoe in his hands.
The growing craze for making money made the celebrities to sign ads without giving a thought to the consequences. “These celebrities are only signing ads without any responsibility. Their aim is to earn easy money without considering the problems it may create,” Justice Gowda added.
Advocate for the petitioner (Dhoni) refuted the claims made by the prosecution by stating that his client hadn’t received any goodwill amount to appear on the cover page of the Magazine.
In response to the petitioner’s advocate, Justice AN Venugopala Gowda directed Dhoni to file an affidavit asserting that he had not received any amount for appearing on the cover page of the magazine.
A case under section 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) along with 34 of Indian Penal Code was registered against him by the Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) who later on issued summons to appear before the court. He instead moved the High Court against ACMM direction.