On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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 Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 10:47 am Post subject: Hindu extremists menace Indian artist |
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NEW DELHI: The plight of one of India's leading painters is raising alarms among the country's artists, who say the government is doing little to protect him from Hindu extremist groups who insist his work is obscene and promotes religious enmity.
Since early last year, Maqbool Fida Husain, 91, has lived in self-imposed exile, mainly in Dubai, wary of returning to his homeland in the face of death threats and attacks on his paintings.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the artist by rightist groups that declare themselves outraged that Husain, a Muslim, should have painted pictures of Hindu goddesses in the nude. In recent months, one Hindu extremist placed a bounty on Husain's head and the leader of the northern wing of India's hard-line Hindu Shiv Sena movement offered half a million rupees, or about $13,000, to anyone who would cut off one of Husain's arms.
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The case against Husain has also raised questions about the ease with which India's legal system can be manipulated by fringe organizations that file headline-grabbing lawsuits against high-profile figures, less with any real expectation of a legal victory than with the aim of stirring controversy.
Richard Gere's decision to kiss the Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness event in Delhi in April triggered a similar rash of lawsuits. A court in Jaipur issued arrest warrants against both parties after a local resident filed a complaint with the court - a public interest litigation - accusing them of indecent behavior.
Although such suits are widely seen here as frivolous, they require the person named to respond, an expensive and time-consuming process. In an essay titled "Harassing Husain," Rajeev Dhavan, a Delhi-based lawyer, argued that Husain has been tormented by this quirk of the legal system and urged that the law be revised.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/16/news/india.php?page=1 |
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