M F Husain paintings: Claim of hurting religious beliefs not of whole community, court told

New Delhi: A Delhi court was on Friday informed the allegation that late M F Husain's paintings hurt religious sentiments was not of the whole community.

The counsel representing the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) made the submission before additional sessions judge Sumit Dass.

The complainant, advocate Amita Sachdeva, sought the gallery's prosecution for displaying the late artist's two paintings, featuring Hindu deities Hanuman and Ganesh.

"Art has to be understood in a particular context... Husain died with a clean slate. The painting was there for 30 days. Thousands of people saw the painting. No one except the complainant objected. Their concerns cannot be seen as concerns of the whole community," the gallery said.

Sachdeva has challenged in the sessions court a magistrate's order refusing to direct an FIR in the matter.

The magistrate on January 20 directed the seizure of the paintings but refused to order the FIR on January 23.

He said all the facts and circumstances of the matter were within the complainant's knowledge while observing the CCTV footage of the gallery, and the paintings in question, were seized already.

On Friday, the gallery argued the facts referred to by the complainant were "misleading".

The complainant, on the other hand, claimed the gallery did not even offer an apology.

"This is not the way to deal with Sanatan Dharma," he said.

The judge posted the hearing on April 21.

Police had seized the paintings in question and informed the magistrate earlier.

The magistrate had referred to a police's action taken report, which said the investigating officer had seized the security camera footage and the network video recorder of the art gallery.

The report said the art exhibition was held privately and the paintings, including the two in question, were only to display the original work of Husain.

Husain, a recipient of Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, died in 2011.