New Delhi: Coming down heavily on the "new puritanism" being carried out by "ignorant people", the Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed criminal proceedings against eminent painter M.F. Husain, overruling the charges of obscenity against his paintings.

Giving relief to the 93-year-old painter, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the allegations against the artist are baseless.

"A painter has his own perspective of looking at things and it cannot be the basis of initiating criminal proceedings against him," Kaul said in his 74-page judgement.

"In India, new puritanism is being carried out in the name of cultural purity and a host of ignorant people are vandalizing art and pushing us towards a pre-renaissance era," he observed.

The court said the question of obscenity was nowhere to be seen in his paintings, as it was his perspective of looking at things and one should not challenge that.

The court ended the judgement on the note that, "A painter at 90 deserves to be sitting in his home and painting his canvas."