The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed an order by a Haridwar court directing the Mumbai police to attach his property. A bench headed by Justice BN Agrawal also issued notice to advocate Arvind Shrivastava, who had complained about the alleged obscene depiction of Hindu goddesses in Husain's paintings, on the artist's petition seeking the transfer of the matter from Haridwar to Delhi.
The court of Special Judicial Magistrate KS Shukla in Haridwar had ordered police to attach Husain's property in Mumbai after he repeatedly failed to respond to summons to appear before it, including at the last hearing of the matter on April 13.
Shrivastava had in March 2006 filed a case in the Haridwar district court against Husain for hurting the sentiments of Hindus by allegedly depicting goddesses in an obscene manner. The case was transferred nine months later to the court of Magistrate Shukla, who issued a non-bailable warrant against Husain after he failed to respond to summons.
Some reactions:
- Artist Paritosh Sen: What has Husain done for which they’re raising such a hue and cry? He’s accused of painting goddesses in the nude when our entire classical art is full of nudity, eroticism and explicit sexual feats. I am sure that if I had painted the same images no hackles would have been raised. It is only because Husain is a Muslim that he is being subjected to this treatment. [Link]
- Artist Akbar Padamsee: The whole thing is totally absurd. I think the Supreme Court should now order the case to be thrown out. These are just puny little nobodies who want to make a name for themselves. They have no real sense of art, music, literature or even the law itself. I have seen images of the painting; it is in the shape of a map of India and there is nothing remotely offensive about it, nor is it targeted at any religion. [Link]
- Former IPS Officer YP Singh: There should have been red corner notices or something issued, attaching properties is a last resort, even properties of hardened criminals are not, so there is no logic to this. [Link]
