Court orders to seize objectionable paintings of Hindu Deities made by anti-Hindu painter M.F. Hussain

  • Impact of the complaint by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti

  • The Delhi Art Gallery organized the painting exhibition

New Delhi – Delhi’s Patiala House Court has ordered to seize derogatory paintings of Shri Ganesh and Shri Hanuman made by anti-Hindu painter M.F. Hussain. These paintings were displayed at the ‘Delhi Art Gallery’. The Court has issued this order after advocate Amita Sachdeva filed a petition in the Court post inaction by the Delhi Art Gallery over a complaint filed by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) in this matter. The next hearing on this matter will be held on January 22nd.

The Court said in the order that the Delhi Art Gallery has submitted a list of paintings to the investigating officers, in which the controversial paintings are listed at serial numbers 6 and 10.

Anti-Hindu stance of Delhi Police

The Police investigation report submitted to the Court states that ‘the exhibition was held at a private place and the purpose of these paintings was only to display the original works of the artists’; however, considering the seriousness of the matter, the Court accepted the application of the petitioner, advocate Amita Sachdeva, and ordered the seizure of the objectionable paintings. (This shows the mentality of the Police. If there were paintings at this place that hurt the sentiments of other religions, would the Police have responded in the same way ? On the other hand, without going to the Police, the people from other religions would have attacked this art gallery and perhaps even beheaded (sar tan se juda) someone – Editor).

What is the matter ?

In December 2024, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and other pro-Hindu organizations objected to the display of objectionable paintings of Hindu Deities by anti-Hindu painter M.F. Hussain in the Delhi Art Gallery. The art gallery denied that such paintings were displayed. The gallery management had secretly removed the controversial paintings. The HJS had complained to the Police. The pro-Hindu activists had demanded an examination of the art gallery’s CCTV footage. In this case, Amita Sachdeva had also filed a petition in the Patiala House Court. She also demanded that a case be registered against the art gallery in this case. While hearing the petition, the Court ordered the Police to preserve the CCTV footage. After this, the Police took possession of only two recordings from the art gallery. When advocate Sachdeva realized this, she informed the Court about this. The Court ordered the seizure of the CCTV recorder. The demand to register a case against the art gallery will be heard tomorrow.

Editorial Perspective

In a Hindu country, derogatory pictures of Hindu Deities are drawn by people of other religions and Hindus have to go to the Court to take action against them. This is shameful for Hindus and underlines the importance of a Hindu Rashtra.