New Delhi: Two days after a court ordered the seizure of two paintings by M.F. Husain because a complainant found them “offensive”, the art gallery which displayed them has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing and expressing confidence that the judicial process would deliver “a just and fair result”.
The court on January 20 gave police permission to seize two paintings featuring two Hindu deities, Hanuman and Ganesha, holding nude female characters in hands and on the lap. The order came after Delhi high court advocate Amita Sachdeva, filed a complaint, alleging that the “offensive” paintings had hurt her “hurt religious sentiments”.
Husain, one of India’s most renowned artists, died in 2011. In late October 2024, Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) opened Husain: The Timeless Modernist in New Delhi. The exhibition featured a collection of works that dealt with different phases of Husain’s artistic journey from the 1950s to the 2000s.
The DAG said that the investigation took 40 days, during which police reviewed evidence collected from DAG, including the artworks.
Following this, “the police reported to the Judicial Magistrate on January 20 that no cognisable offence has been found to be committed by DAG,” the art gallery said.
While DAG has maintained this, reports also noted that the Delhi Police, along with filing an action taken report (ATR) on January 22, informed the court that the artworks were taken from the art gallery, which was a “private space” and were now lying with the police.
Hindustan Times has reported that during the hearing, advocate Makrand Adkar, appearing for Sachdeva, took objection to the police describing the gallery as a private space because it was opened to the public and advertised to that effect.
DAG noted that the exhibition saw about 5,000 visitors and had received “positive reviews in the press as well as from the public”. It stressed that Sachdeva was the only one among those visitors who found the paintings offensive.
“Given its implicit belief in artistic freedom, DAG denies any wrongdoing as alleged by the complainant who has publicly claimed to be principally driven by a religious agenda (https://x.com/SachdevaAmita). In fact, the complainant has herself displayed and publicised the images of the drawings over social media and television news media deliberately intending them to be viewed by a larger audience, while contending that the same images hurt her personal religious sentiments,” it said.
Judicial magistrate first class Sahil Monga has reserved verdict.
“We are given to understand that the Judicial Magistrate has reserved his decision today on the complainant’s application for the registration of an FIR against DAG. The copy of this decision is awaited and DAG shall address its contents once it is made available by the court. In any event, DAG is confident that the judicial process will eventually deliver a just and fair result.”
In the past, India’s Supreme Court has criticised attempts to criminalise art, including Husian’s, by calling it ‘obscene’.
