A Delhi court on Monday, January 20, ordered the seizure of works depicting Hindu deities, created by the great master of Indian painting, MF Husain, notes The Hindu in its January 22 edition. Both paintings depict Hanuman, the monkey god, and Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, holding nude female figures in their hands and on their knees. They were exhibited in a gallery in the Indian capital.
This court decision was taken after a complaint was filed by a lawyer, Amita Sachdeva. The latter considers that the works are “offensive” towards these Hindu deities.
Insulting Hindu deities
“MF Husain may be the greatest artist in the world, but he has no right to insult Hindu deities,” a lawyer argued in a Delhi court on Wednesday. [Celui-ci] demanded that an investigation be opened against the art gallery” and its owners, adds The Indian Express.
This petition was filed under a section of the Indian Penal Code which punishes “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of a group by insulting its religion or religious beliefs”specifies the Indian daily.
“Thousands of people saw our deities… they were ridiculed”, judged the plaintiff’s lawyer.
-A career marked by controversy
Maqbool Fida Husain was one of the greatest Indian painters. Nicknamed the “Picasso of India”reminds her BBC, “sHis career has been marked by controversy. He was notably accused of obscenity by Hindu extremists for a painting representing a naked goddess.
In 2006, Husain went so far as to publicly apologize for his painting “Mother India”. The work depicts a nude woman kneeling on the ground, creating the shape of the map of India. He left the country the same year and went into exile in London until his death in 2011.
In 2008, India’s Supreme Court declined to bring criminal charges against Husain, finding that his paintings were not obscene and that nudity was common in Indian iconography and history.
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