The Madras High Court Bench on Thursday directed a petitioner to approach the judicial magistrate to file cases against sports stars Sachin Tendulkar, Sania Mirza and TV host Mandira Bedi for allegedly insulting the tricolour on foreign soil after the police refused to book them.
The direction was given by Justice M. M. Sundaresh who ruled that under Criminal Procedure Code 156(3) if violation of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act 1971 had been committed and if police did not register a case, then the case could be filed only in a Judicial Magistrate's court seeking a direction to file the case.
Police had on August 23 said in an counter affidavit filed in the Madurai Bench of the High Court that none of the accused persons named in the complaint belonged to Tamil Nadu nor were they available on the date of the complaint or on subsequent dates.
Police said the trio cannot be booked without the Centre's permission.
Petitioner B. Stalin, an advocate, had approached the court seeking a direction to the police to register a case on the basis of his complaint given on April 1, 2011.
According to the petitioner, while celebrating his birthday Tendulkar had cut a cake decorated with the colours of the national flag at Jamaica on March 10, 2010.
Similarly on May 19, 2010, Sania Mirza was resting her feet on a guitar painted in the tricolour while posing as a model for an international company, the petitioner said.
In Mandira's case, she was wearing a sari with the national flag on its border touching her feet, the petitioner said.
The petitioner said as per the Prevention of Insults to National Hounour Act 1971 and Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1950 he had filed cases but the police were not registering the case.
Justice Sundaresh said there were alternative remedies for the petitioner if the police did not file the case under CrPc provisions. He could approach the Judicial Magistrate who could take appropriate action on the petition in accordance with law, without being influenced by the High Court order, he said.