ANANTAPUR:Cricket team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been summoned by a court in Anantapur in connection with a case filed against him for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Hindus.
Additional judicial first class court judge Bojjappa asked Dhoni to personally appear before him on November 7, while issuing latest summons on Monday. Viswa Hindu Parishad Anantapur district vice-president Y Syam Sundar filed the petition stating that Dhoni’s attire in an advertisement had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. It may be noted that several criminal cases were filed against Dhoni across the country for allegedly denigrating Hindu god, by posing as Lord Vishnu, on the cover page of Business Today magazine, which was published on June 3, 2013. The Anantapur court, which took the case for hearing earlier, issued summons to Dhoni and magazine editor Chaitanya Kalbag, but they did not appear before the court, citing various reasons. The petitioner also sent notices to the Central and state home departments, and district collector through his lawyer. In his recent move, the petitioner again approached the ADJ court judge Bojjappa and brought to his notice that the accused were not present before the court, despite issuance of summons, with regard to the case filed under IPC 295 ‘A’ Section. Following this, the court asked Dhoni to personally appear before it on November 7. Syam Sunder, in his petition, also asked Dhoni and the magazine editor to offer apologies to the Hindus.