The Supre­me Court on Thursday quashed criminal proceedings against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur court for allegedly hurting religious sentiments following his depiction as Lord Vishnu on a magazine cover.

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice Dipak Misra also dropped all proceedings against editor of magazine 'Business Today' for publishing the photo. The court noted that no offence under section 295A (hurting religious sentiments) of the IPC was made out against Dhoni or the editor.

“It would be a travesty of justice if the cricketer and the co-accused editor are prosecuted in the case,” the bench said.

An Anantapur district court in Andhra Pradesh had issued a non-bailable warrant against Dhoni on January 8 in relation to a case filed against him for “hurting Hindu sentiments”.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Anantapur district vice-president, Yerraguntla Shyamsunder, had alleged in his criminal complaint that Dhoni had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus by dressing up and posing as Lord Vishnu for the magazine. Several criminal cases were filed against Dhoni across the country for posing as Lord Vishnu on the magazine cover in June, 2013 edition. The apex court had on September 5 last year stayed a similar case lodged against Dhoni and others in a Bengaluru court.