Non-bailable warrant issued against India captain MS Dhoni
Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), January 8: India’s restricted overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was today (January 8) issued a non-bailable warrant by a court here with reference to his image as God Vishnu on a magazine cover. according to reports on Friday (January 8), a non-bailable warrant was issued against the Indian skipper by a court in Anantapur and has been asked to look in person on February 25. Dhoni is presently in Australia to play five ODIs and three T20Is against the hosts, from Jan 12. The tour ends on Jan 31.
In the April 2013 edition of “Business Today” magazine, Dhoni’s face was morphed as God Vishnu on the cover page with the title “God of big deals”. For this, cases were filed against the cricketer for “denigrating” Hindu God. In August 2015, the Karnataka high court, after taking over the case, had observed: “A celebrity and a cricketer like Dhoni should know the implications of hurting religious sentiments of individuals. He ought to have acknowledged the results of doing such ads.”
In his defence, Dhoni had said he didn’t pose as God. “I haven’t received any remuneration/goodwill or cash for the news story or for usage of my image on the cover page or anyplace else. Neither have I posed for the image which was revealed in the magazine on April 14, 2013,” the captain had said. In September 2015, the Supreme Court had stayed criminal proceedings against Dhoni within the same case where he was alleged to have deliberately hurt religious sentiments by posing as God Vishnu.