Maqbool Fida Husain, India's most famous living artist, will not be able to return to India unless the hundreds of cases claiming he hurt "Hindu sentiment" are withdrawn, say experts despite a ruling from the country's supreme court clearing him of the charges.

The artist has been in self-imposed exile since January 2006, forced out by threats from Hindu groups enraged by his paintings of nude gods and goddesses. On Monday three supreme court judges considered whether his painting, Bharat Mata (Mother India), which depicts a nude woman on her knees creating the shape of a map of India, was sacrilegious. The bench rejected the petition seeking prosecution for offending Hindus, saying it was a work of art and citing India's tradition of graphic sexual iconography. "Does the sentiment of the petitioner get scandalized by the large number of photographs of erotic sculptures which are in circulation?" the judges asked. "It is an art like the sculptures. None get scandalized looking at the sculptures." The artist, known in India as MF Husain, told the Associated Press: "At last, the dignity of Indian contemporary art has been upheld by the supreme court as expected." He could not be contacted today. MF Husain put Indian modern art on the world map. By 2005 he was the highest paid painter in India with his work easily fetching $1m (£538,000). However claims that he would be able to return home to India were in doubt. Last month MF Husain told the Guardian there were "3,000 legal cases which have been lodged against me in the past eight years".

Organisations that have long defended the painter said that rightwing Hindu groups could still keep "hounding Husain". "We welcome the court judgment," said Rajan Prasad of Sahmat, which last month put on an exhibition of Husain's work that was vandalised by Hindu activists. "The problem is that this petition relates to just five cases quashed by the high court. The other cases stand. Even if you quash all the cases these guys can simply lodge more. Unless the executive takes a decision and changes the law to defend freedom of expression [MF Husain] will be in exile for years to come."