-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Protest Demonstration agains events in Baroda: From Lalit Batra SENT BY: "Shuddhabrata Sengupta" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat May 12, 2007 8:26 am (PST) Dear All, I have recieved a mail from Lalit Batra, about a protest demonstration against Chandramohan's (the MSU Baroda art student) and the closure of exhibitions at the faculty of fine arts, MSU Baroda, and the suspension of faculty (Shivji Pannickar) planned for tomorrow, 12th of May, at 3 p.m. at Gujarat Bhawan, Chanakya Puri, Near Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Anyone wanting to contact Lalit Batra about this (or for more information can call Lalit at 9899091413) I am pasting the message from members of the faculty (Bina Sriniviasand and Shivji Panickkar) that Lalit circulated below. Although everyone on this list is by now familiar with this story, this notice does have details of the sections of the penal code under which Chandramohan is being charged - Sections 153A and 114, along with Section 295. I would urge everyone to pay attention especially to the wonderful alliance between VHP activists and Christian priests in Gujarat, against the freedom of expression of a student. Further, here are some details about the relevant sections: Section 153A: Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc, commiting acts prejudicial to the harmony of the public According to the section whoever by words or expression promotes enmity between different groups of the country on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, or any such grounds or commits an act which is prejudicial to the harmony of he public is culpable under the section with imprisonment which may extend to three years with or without fine. Further, when the offence is committed on any religious place or any place worship the imprisonment can extend to 5 years with or without fine. The offence is non-bailable and even cognizable (after 1898) ie. Police can arrest a person under the section without warrant. Section 295: Injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class Whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement as a insult to their religion, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both. Section 295A: Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs 295A. Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. Section 114 is about abetment and presence when any crime is being committed. As a close reading of these sections would suggest, the problem lies not only with the act, but also with the idea of intention. The problem is, Chandramohan's lawyers can at best argue that his actions are not evidence of his intentions. However, an artist is such only because his actions have deliberation. Thus, to save Chandramohan the person from a prison sentence, his lawyers might have to jettison Chandramohan's identity as an artist. Such an argument, given the circumstances that the images in question were made for an exam of the fine arts department, may be impossible, or at the very least, difficult to sustain, The reason that distinguishes between the scrawls made by a chimpanzee and an abstract expressionist has to do with the idea of intention. To protect Chandramohan's act as an instance of unmalicious behavious, it has to be freed from the matrix of artistic intention. We cannot really quarrel about the purport of the intention, because the onus of proving hurt, has to do not with the hurter, but with the hurtee. Hurt, is a subjective feeling, and as long as the hurt say that they feel their pain, we are in no position to debate whether their pain or humiliation is real or imagined. There cannot, in fact be, imagined or feigned pain, because a court is in no position to measure the intensity of feeling on any given issue. Thus when a person says that their religious sensibilities are hurt, a court has to listen, (if the injury to sensibilities is mentioned as a cause of harm). Chandramohan cannot say that he intended to cause pain. He can only say that he intended to cause meaning to be read into his actions. If someone says that they read meaning in his actions in a manner that caused them pain, there is very little that Chandramohan or his lawyers can say in defence against such a charge. The only thing that can be debated is the question of whether or not there was 'intention' in the first place. As an artist, Chandramohan cannot run away from intention. Therefore the only recourse that anyone wishing to protect the freedom of speech in this case is to subject the law itself to criticism, not to speculate about whether it's application in this case is an instance of its misreading. This means arguing for a straightforward assault on sections 153 and 295. The only way that an artist or a writer's freedom of speech can be protected against religious zealots is through a complete and total repeal of sections 153 and 295. Having said that, arguing for these provisions to be struck down also means accepting the right of the Hindutva forces to insult and (through speech acts, signs, and visual representations) humiliate and attack people of other religions and convictions. I have no problem with that, but many who will rightly condemn the freedom of Chandramohan to act as he has done, will also call for bans on the 'hate speech' of those who have moved the machinery of law and order against him. Let it be understood that to do that will only invite further assaults on the freedom of art students like Chandramohan in the future. Meanwhile, I would urge everyone to attend as many meetings and protests, as possible on this issue, and make people aware of the draconian nature of sections 153 and 295. best Shuddha - -------------- Dear All, You are all aware of the latest Sangh Parivar offensive against the democratic rights of the students and Faculty members of the well known Fine Arts Faculty of Baroda, M.S.University. The Fine Arts Faculty is one of the best institutions within the M.S.University, which has managed to retain high academic standards, in the face of the general academic deterioration within the University. The recent incident of hooliganism and blatant bullying unleashed by the Sangh Parivar has sent shock waves all over the country. It took place on Wednesday, 9th May 2007, at around 3 p.m. As part of the examination procedure underway in the Faculty, students are supposed to put up their works which are to be assessed by external examiners who come in from outside the city for this purpose. Accordingly, students had put up their installations around the Faculty campus. Some of these installations, (graphic prints) by Chandra Mohan attracted the wrath of the BJP leader Neeraj Jain, who barged into the campus with a bunch of goons and started disrupting the atmosphere, using abusive language and mouthing threats. They roughed up the Chandra Mohan and accused him of offending their religious sentiments, saying that he had portrayed Durga Mata in an obscene way. Not by any stretch of imagination did the prints actually portray any goddess. Under the leadership of Neeraj Jain (who had incidentally played a very dubious role in the May 2006 riots that followed the demolition of a 200 year old dargah in the heart of the city), and with the police in tow, they took Chandra Mohan and a friend of his away to the Sayajiganj police station. Shivji Panickkar, the acting Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty, was also threatened with dire consequences by Neeraj Jain and his goons. Chandra Mohan's friend was released later, but he was himself charged under sections 153 and 114. Later, on 10th May, when the bail application came up for hearing, two more charges were slapped on him, namely, Section 295 A and 295 B, and he was taken under judicial custody, and moved to the Central Jail. By now, Christian fundamentalists had joined hands with the Hindutvavadis. Alongwith the VHP and BJP crowds, reportedly, there were at least 40 priests in the court when Chandra Mohan's bail application came up for hearing. The priests were objecting to some painting to do with a cross - which, they thought offended their religious feelings. In the meantime, Shivji Panickkar met the Vice Chancellor, who basically, wanted him to make a statement that was nothing short of an apology for putting up offensive installations. Panickkar refused to do so. After this, the students submitted a statement expressing thier concern over such tactics, and with a set of their demands, which included police bandobast for the Faculty. Reportedly, Neeraj Jain barged into the Vice Chancellor's office on the same day, and threatened that he would make sure that the entire city would shut down if a single case is registered against him. As of now, all efforts are on to get Chandra Mohan released. However, what is of grave concern in this entire unfolding of events is the fascist agendas that underly the actions of the likes of Neeraj Jain. Citizenship and democratic rights face a grave crisis in the State of Gujarat and elsewhere. The nexus between the police and elements of the Sangh Parivar is so clearly established (it has been so since 2002) and it is also clear that fascist tactics affect everybody. In this instance, it is not only a matter for the artist community to agitate about. It is for ALL of us to sit up and take notice of what is going on in the name of religion. If we do not counter these tactics NOW, we are all going to be crushed sooner or later, either in our work arenas or within the confines of our homes. The dangers of giving in to or being cowed down by these forces cannot be underestimated. THE FACULTY OF FINE ARTS HAS PLANNED A LARGE DEMONSTRATION FOR 14TH MAY 2007, MONDAY WHERE ARTISTS, LAWYERS, DOCTORS, ORDINARY CITIZENS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY WILL GET TOGETHER IN PROTEST AGAINST SUCH GAGGING OF EXPRESSION AND VIOLATION OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS. PLEASE DO COME FOR THE DEMONSTRATION, AND MOTIVATE OTHERS TO JOIN IT. THE TIME TO ACT IS UPON US, WE CANNOT ABDICATE OUR RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS SOCIETY, OURSELVES AND THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS. VENUE: FINE ARTS FACULTY, M.S.UNIVERSITY , FATEHGANJ, BARODA TIME: 2 PM ONWARDS CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS: BINA SRINIVASAN: 9879377280 SHIVJI PANICKKAR: 9898403097 Best Bina PS: pls. circulate this email to as many people as possible. Thanks. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGRva2F+jWtLmEaycRAgktAKC671+ZnCaJqgCJ6SJH5LCH/xVtCwCgnUxo dBQyW+YbVnXGkXjC7YeVf3k= =mfwZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
