Complaints against Husain filed at three different places were clubbed together on the direction of the Supreme Court in September last year.

Husain had approached the apex court pleading that he was getting on in years and it was physically not possible for him to go to Haridwar to attend court hearings. The Supreme Court had earlier transferred two other similar cases, involving allegedly obscene paintings done by Husain of Bharat Mata and Hindu goddesses, to the Patiala House courts from Bhopal and Indore

In all the cases, Husain has been accused of committing offences under the Indian Penal Code - hurting religious sentiments, promoting enmity between different religious groups and promoting obscene material.

"Bharatmata", which depicts a nude woman symbolizing mother India with a large part of the northern state of Kashmir shorn off to accommodate the Himalayas, had offended some Hindu groups in India and abroad.

The controversial "Bharatmata" painting first was shown in February 2006 in an exhibition Art for Mission Kashmir organized by Nafisa Ali and the Apparao Gallery. Right-wing organisations like the Hindu Jagruti Samiti and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested against Husain, saying it was an affront to Mother India. The artist had posted the paintings on several websites and exhibited it in shows across the world.