On Monday, a court in India’s capital city, Delhi, ordered the seizure of two paintings by the late Maqbool Fida Husain – aka MF Husain – after they were deemed “offensive” by authorities. He is one of India’s best-known artists.
The judge gave the police permission to confiscate the artworks after a lawye, Amita Sachdeva, complained that the artworks which feature two Hindu deities, “hurt religious sentiments.” She posted on X on December 4 that she photographed the “offensive paintings” displayed at the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) after looking into previous complaints against Husain. Sachdeva filed a police complaint on December 9.
Husain died in 2011 at the age of 95. He was often criticized for painting naked Hindu gods.
In response to the court order, DAG – which describes itself as “India’s leading art company” – said in a statement that it is “not a party to the legal proceedings and is seeking legal advice.” It added that it is “reviewing the situation” and “trying to follow developments.”
The two paintings were exhibited by the gallery as part of a show called “Husain: The Timeless Modernist.” It included over 100 and ran from October 26 to December 14.
Sachdeva said she visited the gallery with a police officer on December 10, but the paintings had been removed. She claimed that the gallery said it had never shown the artworks.
The two paintings that Sachdeva posted online showed the Hindu gods Hanuman and Ganesha alongside naked women. She claimed the Delhi police failed to file a report about them.
According to media report, Sachdeva demanded that the court analyze the CCTV footage from the gallery taken when the paintings were allegedly hanging on the wall.
On Monday, a judge at Patiala House Courts in Delhi said officers had obtained the footage and submitted their report. According to the inquiry, “Husain: The Timeless Modernist” was held in a private space and was only intended to exhibit the artist’s original work, the judge explained.
Husain was no stranger to controversy during his lifetime. He was accused of a lack of respect by conservative Hindus for his depiction of a nude goddess. In 2006, he issued a public apology for his painting Mother India portraying a naked woman kneeling on the ground to create the shape of the Indian map. The same year, he left India on his own accord and lived in London until his death.
In 2008, India’s Supreme Court decided against launching criminal proceedings against Husain, arguing that his art was not obscene and that nudity was common in Indian iconography. The court also rejected calls for Husain, then in exile, to be summoned and asked to explain the nudity in his paintings.
India’s Supreme Court said in a statement: “There are so many such subjects, photographs and publications. Will you file cases against all of them? What about temple structures? Husain’s work is art. If you don’t want to see it, don’t see it. There are so many such art forms in temple structures.”
