An Indian court ordered the arrest of ‘offensive’ pictures

A court in India’s capital, Delhi, has ordered the seizure of two “offensive” paintings by one of India’s most famous artists, MF Hussain.

The court on Monday gave permission to seize the artworks after police complained that the paintings, which were displayed in an art gallery and featured two Hindu deities, “hurt religious sentiments”.

In the year Hussain, who died in 2011 at the age of 95, was often criticized for his depictions of distant Hindu deities in his paintings.

The Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), which organized the exhibition, said in a statement: “It is not part of any legal proceedings and is seeking legal advice.”

The paintings were part of Hussain: The Timeless Modernity, an exhibition at DAG that featured more than 100 works from October 26 to December 14.

Complainant Amita Sachdeva, a lawyer, had photographed the “disgusting pictures” displayed at DAG on December 4 on XX and lodged a police complaint five days after investigating the earlier complaints against the late artist.

In the year On December 10, Ms Sakdeva said she visited the gallery with the investigating officer, but found that the paintings had been removed. Officials at the galleries said they never exhibited the paintings.

The BBC has contacted DAG for comment.

The pictures Ms Sakdeva shared online show the Hindu gods Ganesha and Hanuman alongside nude female figures. She also alleged that the Delhi Police did not file a report.

Later, the paintings were put on display. According to media reports, she applied to the court to keep the CCTV footage from the gallery.

On Monday, Delhi’s Patiala House Magistrate said the police had found the footage and submitted the report. According to the request, the exhibition was held in a private space and was only meant to show the artist’s first work, the judge added.

The art gallery said in a statement that they are “assessing the situation” and “attempting to follow developments”.

Maqbool Fida Hussain is one of India’s greatest painters and has been called the “Picasso of India”, but his art has often sparked controversy in the country. His works have sold for millions of dollars.

The work was met with controversy when it was accused of being offensive and condemned by hardline Hindus for depicting a naked goddess.

In the year In 2006, Hussain publicly apologized to India, the motherland of the film. It shows a naked woman kneeling on the ground forming the shape of a map of India. He left the country that same year and lived in exile in London until his death.

In 2008, the Supreme Court of India He declined to file criminal charges against Hussain.He said the paintings were not obscene and that nudity was common in Indian paintings and history.

The court dismissed an appeal against the High Court’s decision to quash criminal cases against Hussain in the cities of Bhopal, Indore and Rajkot, condemning the rise of a “new cleanliness” in India.

The court refused to summon Hussain, who was in exile at the time, and asked him to explain the paintings.

“There are many such subjects, photographs and prints. Are you suing them all? What about the construction of the temple? Hussain’s work is art. If you don’t want to see it, you won’t see it. There are many such art forms in the temple structures,” the apex court said.

Many believe that there is a rising tide of illiberalism in artistic expression in India.

Bombay High Court in October He scolded the customs department. By famous artists FN Souza and Akbar Padamsee for taking away works of art on the grounds that they are “disgusting things”.

The court ruled that not every nudity or sexually explicit image qualifies as obscenity and freed seven works of art.

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