Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate A K Kuhar cited legal lacuna in the contention of complainant Dr Ram Pratap Singh and said the court could take a decision only after the police file a final report.

“Investigation must reach a logical conclusion, either in the form of filing of a chargesheet or the final report,” the ACMM said in an order, while noting that it was not an appropriate stage to move ahead with Singh’s complaint.

A doctor at Apollo Hospital, Singh had filed a complaint in 2006 accusing Hussain of hurting religious feelings by allegedly painting “nude or scantily-clad pictures of Sita, Draupadi and Bharat Mata”.

The doctor, in his complaint, had said he was “shocked” to see an advertisement in a weekly depicting Bharat Mata in a “scantily-clad posture”, and again an article in a national daily that was accompanied by depiction of goddess Sita and Draupadi in a “highly obscene” way.

The court had taken cognisance of the complaint against Hussain, who is believed to have left the country as part of a self-imposed exile, under various provisions of IPC pertaining to promoting enmity between communal groups and outraging religious feelings.

During the hearing, Singh’s counsel complained of deliberate delay by the police in completing the probe and said there was sufficient evidence to take cognisance of the offence against the painter and prosecute him.

The ACMM, however, said that once the direction had been given to the police for investigating the matter, the court had to wait for the final probe report before passing any direction.