At 91, painter Maqbool Fida Hussain, forced to live a long self-imposed exile in Dubai, Meanwhile, “deserves to be in his home, painting his canvas.” That was the Delhi High Court today in a ringing endorsement of artistic freedom when it quashed criminal proceedings against the artist for allegedly hurting public sentiments by painting “obscene” pictures of Hindu goddesses.

“In a free and democratic society, tolerance is vital. This is true especially in large and complex societies like ours where people with varied beliefs and interests mingle,” said the single-judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. “It is very unfortunate that the works of any artist today who have tried to play around with nudity have come under scrutiny. These artists have had to face the music, making them think twice before exhibiting their work of art.”

Seeking to distance the world of creative sensibilities from that of self-declared “puritanists,” the judge, in It found “baseless” criminal proceedings against the 91-year-old artist for

“We have been called the land of Kamasutra,” the judge said, “then why is it that in the land of Kamasutra, we shy away from its very name? Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and so does obscenity.”

The court referred Hussain’s case as a typical example of an artist facing the ire of “the types who would not go to art galleries or have interest in contemporary art...because if they did, they would know that there are many artists who embrace nudity as part of contemporary art.”

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