Fringe group creates ruckus at Jaipur Art Summit

A group of miscreants created a ruckus on Thursday at the Jaipur Art Summit (JAS 2016) over the display of paintings that allegedly depicted women indecently.

A few activists of a fringe group, Lal Shakti, which claims that 90 per cent of its members are women, reached Ravindra Manch where the 4th edition of the high profile art fair is being held, and had a tiff with the artists.

"We wanted artists to remove the controversial paintings from there, but they refused to do so... We for some time had a heated argument with the artists present there for depicting women in an indecent way and finally we deposited the paintings in nearby Lal Kothi police station," said Hemlata Sharma of Lal Shakti.

"It is an attack on freedom of expression. How can anyone become a judge and give order... You should have knowledge about art before you decide what is right or wrong... It really is an attack on freedom of expression. We also went to the police station and got the paintings back," Shailendra Bhatt, the founder of the Jaipur Art Summit, said.

"What impression will these artists from overseas who are attending the summit take from here," said Bhatt.

Jaipur Art Summit is being held here from December 7-11 and around 500 artists from 25 countries are participating in the summit.

--IANS

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