Court orders probe into Hussain’s paintings

New Delhi (ZEENEWS.COM) : A city court today directed Delhi police to investigate a complaint filed against noted painter M F Hussain for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by painting "obscene pictures of Hindu Gods and Goddesses".

Acting on the status report of the case, metropolitan magistrate Vikas Dhull directed police to investigate the allegations levelled against the 91-year-old painter before taking any step to apprehend him.

"Investigate the matter as per law and based on evidence collected by investigating the matter, apprehend the accused (Hussain)," the magistrate said after perusing the status report filed by police stating that documents had been seized and authenticity of eight photographs was being verified.

A doctor of Apollo Hospital Ram Pratap Singh had filed a complaint accusing Hussain with hurting religious feelings by allegedly painting "nude or scantily clad pictures of Sita, Draupadi and Bharat Mata".

The doctor, in his complaint, said he was shocked to see an advertisement in a weekly magazine on February six this year depicting Bharat Mata in a "scantily-clad posture" and again an article in a national daily depicting Goddess Sita and Draupadi in "highly obscene" way.

The complaint has been filed under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different communities based on religion, race, place of birth and language etc), 292 (sale of obscene books), 294 (obscene acts), 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings)d 295-a (deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious feelings of any class)under Indian Penal Code.