M F Husain may be the greatest artist in the world, but he has no right to insult Hindu deities, a lawyer on Wednesday argued before a Delhi Court seeking a First Information Report (FIR) against DAG, formerly called Delhi Art Gallery, and its owners/directors for displaying two of the artist’s paintings that his client found “offensive”.
The FIR was sought under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Sahil Monga in Patiala House Court reserved an order on whether the FIR would be filed in this case or not. He is expected to pass the order at 4 pm on Wednesday.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the court ordered the seizure of the two paintings displayed at the DAG following the complaint from advocate Amita Sachdeva, who found them “offensive”. Sachdeva had even posted these paintings of Hindu deities Hanuman and Ganesh on her X account.
“The most revered entities of Sanatan Dharm Hanuman and Ganesh were insulted in the paintings… This is obscenity. It is a deliberate and malicious attempt to insult Hindu deities,” advocate Makrand Adkar, who is representing Sachdeva, submitted before the court.
“On 04.12.2024, I clicked photos of offensive paintings displayed at DAG World at 22A, Windsor Place, Connaught Place, New Delhi, and filed a complaint on 09.12.2024 at Parliament Street police station after researching past FIRs against M F Husain. However, during a visit with the IO on 10.12.2024, the paintings were removed and falsely claimed they were never displayed,” Sachdeva had said in a post on X.
Adkar argued that the complainant was an eyewitness herself and that the paintings were displayed in a public place as opposed to a private place, as mentioned in the inquiry report of the Delhi Police. “Thousands saw our deities…they were made objects of ridicule,” he added.
“Were Sachdeva’s feelings hurt or those of the entire community? Because both would fall into different categories of offences,” Judge Monga asked the counsel. “Whether the paintings hurt the feelings or not is a matter of trial, right?” the judge asked.
“The paintings were removed (from the gallery)…therefore they admitted that a crime was committed…Sanatan Dharm is the most tolerant culture. That’s why we brought our grievances to the court,” Adkar said, adding that the “whole community” was hurt.
“In 2008, over 1,200 complaints were filed against Husain. In 2011, he died… He had fled to Qatar and took a citizenship there…,” Sachdeva said.
“The paintings have been removed…What needs to be investigated then?” asked Judge Monga.
The counsel responded that since the paintings were displayed in a public space, a case of Section 299 BNS was made against DAG through its owner and director.
In a statement Tuesday, DAG said that it was reviewing the situation. It said it was not a party to any court proceedings thus far and was trying to follow the developments.
Established in 1993, DAG houses the most extensive collection of premodern and modern Indian art from the 18th century to the 20th century.
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