Cant make Husain return: SC

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to intervene to bring self-exiled painter M F Husain to India,saying the courts or the Prime Minister cannot compel a person who has decided to live abroad to come home....

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The Supreme Court on Friday declined to intervene to bring self-exiled painter M F Husain to India,saying the courts or the Prime Minister cannot compel a person who has decided to live abroad to come home.

What can the Prime Minister do if a person decides to live in Doha? They are international citizens,they can live anywhere in the world, said a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan.

The court dismissed a petition filed by advocate Bhim Singh seeking judicial intervention for withdrawal of criminal cases against the noted painter,who has accepted Qatar nationality,to make the 95-year-old artist end his self-imposed exile.

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The petition was filed in the Supreme Court on February 25,immediately after news broke out that Husain had been conferred the foreign nationality. It said the artist deserves a dignified return with no threats of criminal action against him. It said Husains impending change of nationality brings to a close one of the sorriest chapters in independent Indias secular history.

Singhs claim that the denial of freedom to Husain amounted to an infringement of his fundamental rights was dismissed by the court,which observed,How can the Union of India be directed to withdraw the cases when they are all private complaints? If he is in Doha,what is the problem? Singh opted to withdraw his petition.