'He may paint Ganesha as Michael Jackson next'
Preetu Nair, TNN
Panaji: The police have warned artist Subodh Kerkar to be wary of hurting religious sentiments after Hindu Janjagruti Samithi (HJS) complained about his paintings of Lord Ganesha.
According to sources, acting on the HJS complaint , the police have sent a report to the sub-divisional magistrate explaining the circumstances of the case and the law and order problem that could arise out of it. The complaint has also been referred to the prosecution director for legal opinion.
Legal eagles were divided on the issue. While senior counsel Surendra Dessai accused the police of being lenient on the artist, advocate Arun Bras de Sa asked, " the question is under what provisions of the law are the police prohibiting the artist from having the exhibition? If it is a work of art, then the perception may differ."
According to Dessai, the police could have booked the artist under section 295 (A) of IPC, which is a cognizable offence, for hurting religious feelings, " on the contrary , the police have given him a light treatment by issuing notice under section 149, probably to balance the freedom of art and penal action," he said.
Section 295 (A) of IPC deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beleifs which could be either by words, spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations.
Advocate de Sa said, "section 149 of the CrPC under which the notice has been served does not speak of religious insult. It deals with a police officer preventing the commission of any cognizable offence. The question if under what provisions of law are the police prohibiting the artist from having exhibition? If it is a work of art , then the perception may differ."
Referring to a recent Supreme Court judgment, in the case of M.F.Hussain where it was alleged the he had offended Hindus with a painting representing Bharat Mata as a nude goddess, de Sa said, "the Supreme Court opined that legal proceedings against the painter should be dropped and said that the nudity potrayed by Hussain had a long history. The judgment said,'there are many such pictures, paintings and sculptures and some of them are in temples'.
Speaking to TOI, HJS state convenor, Jayesh Thali said, "Artistic freedom should not be at the cost of hurting public sentiment and gain publicity. If painting Lord Ganesh as sumo wrestler is allowed, then tommorow the artist may paint Ganesh in the form of Michael Jackson or Madonna. If the artist is really secular, he should also draw such pictures of Christ during Christmas and Mohammed Paigambar during Id."
ART VIEW
"We should have certain limits for freedom. Freedom does not mean going out of the line. To depict what we want, we need to do it with a sense of responsibility. Being a Catholic, my feeling were hurt when i looked at the pictures (of Ganesha) as they were hurting the God i respect. The police is justified in giving the notice this time for the sake of keeping peace and communal harmony"
Yolanda D' Souza/ Artist
"It is quite unfortunate that the state is getting involved in matters of art. If they have to be involved, they should be involved in facilitating discussions between the artist and the powers that oppose a creation of art"
Abhay Sardesai/ Editor, Art India
"I have seen Subodh Kerkar's works and they are beautiful. If you go to some of the temples in India, you will see the same type of work. There is nothing wrong with what he has done"
Norman Tagore/ Artist
"Artist need freedom to express themselves. At the same time , they should impose self - restraint. If there is law which deters an artist from doing such a thing then the police can intervene to ensure that there is no law and order problem."
Naguesh Sardesai / Artist
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