Madurai: Sportstars Sachin Tendulkar, Sania
Mirza and TV host Mandira Bedi cannot be booked for allegedly
insulting the Tricolour on foreign soil without the Centre's
permission, police told the Madras High Court.
"No. Not possible without the sanction of the Central
government," police said in a counter-affidavit filed in the
Madurai Bench of the High Court.
Police submitted 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.
The counter-affidavit filed on Tuesday came in response to
a petition by advocate B Stalin seeking a direction to a
police inspector to register criminal cases against them under
the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and
Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper use) Act, 1950.
When an offence is committed outside India, no
prosecution under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of
Improper use) Act could be instituted without central
government's sanction, the affidavit said.
The lawyer should have approached the central government
for proper sanction for prosecution, it said.
According to the petitioner, while celebrating his
birthday Sachin 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.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 14:13