The Madras High Court on Friday, December 15, sentenced IPS officer G. Sampath Kumar to 15 days of simple imprisonment in response to a contempt of court petition filed by the legendary cricketer MS Dhoni.

The petition was lodged by the former Indian skipper against officer Kumar for making disrespectful remarks about the Supreme Court and the High Court.

Justices S.S. Sundar and Sunder Mohan imposed the sentence but decided to suspend it for 30 days, giving the accused time to appeal before the Supreme Court. Notably, the court took this step on its own initiative, even though Kumar hadn't formally requested the suspension.

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Dhoni, represented by senior counsel P.R. Raman, lodged the petition and urged the court to punish Kumar for his derogatory comments about the judiciary. These comments were made in response to a ₹100 crore defamation suit filed by Dhoni in 2014.

The suit arose from Kumar implicating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match-fixing scandal. The Advocate General, R. Shunmugasundaram, granted permission under the Contempt of Courts Act for Dhoni to file the criminal contempt petition.

This permission was given after determining that Kumar's remarks in his written statement amounted to scandalizing court proceedings. Notably, Dhoni is currently recovering from knee surgery and will be seen leading CSK in the upcoming IPL 2024, possibly for the last time.

(With The Hindu Inputs)