Hindu god paintings by ‘Picasso of India’ seized for being ‘offensive’

Three days after a court in India ordered the seizure of two paintings by late artist MF Husain over a complaint that they were “offensive,” the gallery displaying them strongly opposed the “unfounded allegations” in a case that sets artistic freedom in the country against personal religious values.

The Delhi High Court on 20 January permitted police to seize the paintings after a lawyer named Amita Sachdeva complained the artworks – featuring Hindu deities Ganesha and Hanuman alongside nude female figures – “hurt religious sentiments”.

In an X post on 13 December, Ms Sachdeva said she had taken photos of the “offensive paintings” at DAG, New Delhi (formerly Delhi Art Gallery) and filed a police complaint on 9 December after “researching past FIRs against MF Husain”.

Maqbool Fida Husain, dubbed the “Picasso of India”, was one of South Asia’s most renowned artists but no stranger to controversy, repeatedly accused of obscenity by Hindu groups for painting deities in the nude or with nude figures.

In 2006, Husain issued an apology for his painting of “Mother India”, depicting a nude woman in the shape of the country’s map. He felt compelled to leave India and lived in self-imposed exile in London until his death in 2011, aged 95.

The paintings ordered seized by the court were part of an exhibition titled Husain: The Timeless Modernist, featuring 100 “pivotal works that reflect his powerful interpretations of Indian life, culture, and modernity”. It ran from 26 October to 14 December.

The gallery told The Independent the exhibition saw around 5,000 visitors, “including scholars, academicians, collectors, students and art enthusiasts as well as journalists, garnering positive reviews in the press as well as from the public”. “It is noteworthy that no other person among about 5,000 visitors at the gallery raised any objection to any of the artworks displayed in this exhibition,” it said.

The paintings, the gallery said, “were acquired internationally at a Christie’s auction and brought into India following due customs clearance”.

In her post on X, Ms Sachdeva alleged that when she visited the gallery again with a police officer on 10 December, the paintings had been removed and the gallery “falsely claimed they were never displayed”.

“This statement of Ms Sachdeva is patently false and malicious,” a spokesperson for the gallery told The Independent. “When the investigating officer enquired about the artworks displayed during the exhibition, we provided the entire list of artworks along with their photographs, including those works which she claims to have photographed during her first visit to the gallery. It is evident she is deliberately creating a false narrative to garner attention because no one at DAG has ever offered any comment or explanation to her at any point of time.”

The paintings displayed during the exhibition were “routinely replaced with other works of the artist so that all his works get their deserved display time during the exhibition”, they added.

The Independent has reached out to Ms Sachdeva for comment.

According to media reports, Ms Sachdeva demanded the court analyse the gallery’s CCTV footage to find out when the paintings were moved and why.

“Given its implicit belief in artistic freedom, the DAG denies any wrongdoing as alleged by the complainant who has publicly claimed to be principally driven by a religious agenda,” the gallery said.

“In fact, the complainant has herself displayed and publicised the images of the drawings over social media and television news media deliberately intending them to be viewed by a larger audience, while contending that the same images hurt her personal religious sentiments.”

In its order on Monday, the court said police had seized the CCTV footage and filed a report, which stated the exhibition was held in a “private space” and was only intended to showcase the artist’s original work. It further said the paintings had been taken from the gallery and were now with police.

Ms Sachdeva’s counsel Makrand Adkar took objection to the police report calling the gallery a private space since it was open to the public or else “the complainant wouldn’t have visited” it, Hindustan Times reported.

“The most revered entities of Sanatan Dharm, Hanuman and Ganesh, were insulted in the paintings,” the lawyer claimed. “This is obscenity. It is a deliberate and malicious attempt to insult Hindu deities. Thousands saw our deities…they were made objects of ridicule.”

The Independent reached out to Ms Sachdeva for comment multiple times but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Ms Sachdeva had asked for a case to be registered against the gallery on charges of deliberately and maliciously outraging religious feelings. The court, however, dismissed the petition.

In a statement to The Independent, the gallery said it “strongly opposes the complainant’s unfounded allegations and shall call out her attempt to launch a malicious prosecution against the DAG, when called upon by the court to do so”.

The gallery also “intends to pursue its own legal remedies against the complainant for the false and mala fide accusations made by her”.

Indian courts have historically protected Husain’s right to artistic liberty. In 2008, the Delhi High Court dismissed obscenity charges against him while cautioning that “a new puritanism is being carried out in the name of cultural purity”.

“Ancient Indian art has been never devoid of eroticism where sex worship and graphical representation of the union between man and woman has been a recurring feature,” it said.

The Supreme Court in 2011 upheld the decision, declaring that Husain’s works were protected under the constitutional provision guaranteeing the freedom of speech and expression.

Philippines launches comic book to counter China’s ‘disinformation’ in the disputed South China Sea

The Philippines launched a comic book on Friday to counter what the country says is China’s disinformation campaign to push its expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The 40-page comic book, titled “The Stories of Teacher Jun,” was unveiled by Philippine officials. It contains colorful caricatures of a Filipino teacher and his young students discussing the complex territorial disputes in simple terms and highlights the Philippine position.

One fictional student in the book describes China as a bully and another says Beijing’s “behavior is outrageous.”

“Chinese officials, along with state-sponsored media and individuals, continue to spread distorted and twisted narratives to malign our efforts and justify their unilateral claims,” national security adviser Eduardo Ano said in a speech at the book launching in Manila.

The Philippines will do everything to “fight misinformation, disinformation and false narratives to put forward the truth,” Ano told reporters.

The Philippines has faced a lopsided battle against the militarily superior China in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, prompting it to strengthen security alliances with the United States and other friendly states to build deterrence against Beijing’s aggressive actions.

Two years ago, the Philippines adopted a shame campaign by releasing videos and photographs of China’s increasingly assertive actions in the contested waters, including the use of powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers, to domestic and international audiences.

But the territorial spats, particularly between Chinese and Philippine coast guard forces, have continued.

The ambassadors of the United States and Canada, among the key supporters of the Philippines in confronting China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waterway, attended the comic book launch. Officials from the Philippine coast guard and military, and the education secretary, were also present.

There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials, but they have repeatedly reasserted their claims to virtually the entire waterway and accused the Philippines and other rival claimant states of encroachments.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also lay claim to the busy sea passage, a key global trade route with rich fishing grounds and undersea gas deposits.

About 11,000 copies of the comic book have been distributed for free, and thousands more will be printed depending on the availability of financial donations, said Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, one of the proponents of the book project.

The intended recipients are young students and Filipinos in far-flung regions with limited access to news sources. Foreign readers who show an interest could be provided with copies of the book in their language, officials said.

“This initiative aims to highlight our maritime rights and entitlements while revealing China’s unlawful activities, aggressive behavior and bullying tactics,” Ano said. “It is crucial for us to shed light on these actions as transparency is a powerful tool in combating misinformation.”

South Koreans turn funeral wreaths and K-pop light sticks into political protest tools

South Koreans are repurposing flower wreaths and K-pop light sticks as political protest tools amid the nation’s deepest political crisis in decades, sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration in December.

Hundreds of wreaths, predominantly directed at Yoon himself, have been sent to his residence and government buildings connected to the impeachment proceedings, with some targeting other officials involved in the martial law controversy. Local media estimate the number of wreaths delivered to government offices as several thousand.

While many wreaths carry moderate messages supporting Yoon or opposing impeachment, several contain extreme rhetoric directed at recipients. The black-ribboned funeral wreaths with white chrysanthemums and celebratory wreaths with vibrant roses and orchids, costing as much as $75, carry messages reflecting Korea’s deepening political divide.

The protest method has gained traction, with media coverage increasing in tandem over the last few years. A search on Big Kinds, which collects and analyzes articles from over 100 local news outlets, shows wreath protests received four times more media coverage in 2024 compared to 2023, reflecting the method’s growing popularity. News articles about these protests started to appear in the early 2010s, though experts cannot specify their exact origin

While dozens of flower shops say they haven’t received protest wreath orders, and a handful of online blogs promote wreath sales emphasizing political neutrality, certain shops have become focal points for the movement.

Yoon Miyoung, of Seoul-based Dongsung Flower, said she has delivered over 1,000 wreaths since December, exclusively for pro-Yoon supporters. “We’ve sent out so many wreaths that Seoul is running out of flowers,” she said, adding that over one-third of her customers are in their 20s and 30s, with orders coming from outside South Korea including Japan, United States and the Netherlands.

“Even though the form remains the same, the types of flowers or the messages differ,” said Choi Hang-sub, a sociology professor at Kookmin University. “While wreaths avoid physical violence, the messages on funeral wreaths have evolved into a form of offline hate speech, similar to malicious online comments but now decorated with flowers.”

Professor Kim Hern Sik, from Jungwon University, said wreath protests remain “an isolated form of demonstration limited to certain political groups,” making it difficult to gain broader public support.

Experts also raise concerns about wreath protests’ environmental impact. “Most wreaths use cheap, non-environmentally friendly materials that neither help flower farmers nor the environment,” said Kim.

However, Kim sees promise in younger generations’ protest methods. “K-pop fandom culture, especially centered around young women in their teens and 20s, is now being applied to political rallies,” he said.

Last December, outside the National Assembly where lawmakers voted to impeach Yoon, thousands of people wielded K-pop light sticks costing around $50 from popular bands like BIGBANG, NCT, and Epik High during pro-impeachment rallies.

“Even though these idol lightsticks are expensive … people are bringing their most precious possessions to express their opinions,” said Hong Gayeong, a 29-year-old protester at a Dec. 13 protest calling for Yoon’s impeachment. The phenomenon has sparked a protest coalition, with some offering free shipping and light-stick rentals through popular resale apps.

The crisis began when Yoon imposed military rule Dec. 3 and dispatched troops to the National Assembly, leading to his impeachment 11 days later. Yoon was apprehended Jan. 19 in a massive law enforcement operation at his residential compound.

The Constitutional Court now has 180 days to decide whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him as he faces potential rebellion charges.

Captain Cook statue disfigured and painted red ahead of Australia Day

A statue of British explorer Captain James Cook in a suburb of Sydney has been vandalised ahead of Australia Day, the second such incident in as many years.

New South Wales Police said they were investigating.

The vandals threw red paint, sprayed graffiti, knocked off the hand, nose and part of the face of the statue on Belmore Road in Randwick on Friday.

Australia Day, celebrated on 26 January, is a contentious holiday in the country as it is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788, establishing the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

While for many Indigenous Australians, the date marks the beginning of the colonisation and dispossession of their lands, for others it is a celebration of the nation’s history, culture and achievements.

Randwick mayor Dylan Parker criticised the attack. He said the heritage statue would be restored but it would take weeks to do it, lamenting that taxpayer money could have been put to better use.

“Randwick City Council condemns this act of vandalism of the heritage Captain Cook statue,” he said.

“Vandalism has no place in public discussion. It is an illegal act that does a disservice to progressing your cause, a disservice to the community and a disservice to reconciliation.”

The council said they were actioning plans to clean and restore the statue.

Several of Cook’s statues in Australia have been damaged amid an ongoing debate about his legacy and the impact of British colonisation on Indigenous peoples.

While Cook is historically recognised as the explorer who charted and claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain in 1770, his arrival is also seen as a prelude to the violent colonisation, dispossession and systemic oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This is because Cook’s expedition paved the way for the 1788 decision to send the First Fleet led by Captain Arthur Phillip to the new continent.

In January 2024, a statue of Cook in Melbourne was doused in paint and sawn off at the ankles on the eve of Australia Day. The vandals wrote on the plinth of the statue: “The colony will fall.”

Trump says he will try to reengage ‘smart guy’ Kim Jong Un

Donald Trump said he was willing to engage with North Korean leader Kim Kong Un once again, raising hope that the US could resume diplomacy with the reclusive state.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday, the American president repeated his praise for Mr Kim, describing him as a “smart guy”.

“He’s not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy. Kim Jong Un is a smart guy,” Mr Trump told Mr Hannity.

Asked if he would reach out to him again, Mr Trump responded: “I will, yeah. He liked me, and I got along with him.”

The new US president has repeatedly boasted about having good relations with the North Korean leader even as ties between Washington and Pyongyang deteriorated under Joe Biden’s administration.

In his first term as president from 2016 to 2020, Mr Trump alternated between bluster and diplomacy when engaging with North Korea. He mocked Mr Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatened to unleash “fire and fury” following a North Korean nuclear test.

Still, from 2018 to 2019, the two leaders made history by meeting three times – in Singapore, Hanoi, and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Mr Trump also most famously claimed that he and Mr Kim “fell in love”.

But that unprecedented flurry of talks fizzled out as the two sides were unable to agree on what should come first – sanctions relief or steps towards North Korea’s denuclearisation. Pyongyang has since said it has no interest in returning to diplomacy based on personal relations between the two leaders.

In the interview, Mr Trump recalled Barack Obama’s remark that North Korea was the single greatest threat to America.

“He (Mr Obama) said North Korea is the biggest threat, and I solved that problem,” he said, adding: “I’m not Obama.”

On his first day back in office, Mr Trump called North Korea a “nuclear power”, indicating a potential change in his government’s policy towards Pyongyang.

“I was very friendly with him. He liked me. I liked him. We got along very well,” Mr Trump said of Mr Kim. “He is a nuclear power. We got along. I think he will be happy to see me coming back.”

Pyongyang’s arch rival and US ally South Korea appeared to downplay Mr Trump’s comments, saying North Korea “can never” have the status of a nuclear weapons state.

North Korean state media Rodong Sinmun reported Mr Trump’s inauguration in a two-sentence dispatch on Wednesday. The outlet said he was sworn in as the 47th president of the US, without using the inflammatory rhetoric it usually employs while talking about America.

Pyongyang has downplayed the possibility of a change in its policy towards America, which it has accused of provoking tensions on the Korean peninsula with high-profile military drills in the Pacific with South Korea and Japan.

Mr Kim last month called the US “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its invariable state policy” and vowed to implement the “toughest” anti-US policy.

Father of Bollywood stabbing suspect plans to fight ‘false arrest’

The father of a suspected Bangladeshi illegal migrant accused of stabbing Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has claimed his son is being framed in a false case because he is an easy target.

Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad was arrested by the Mumbai police on Sunday for attempted burglary and stabbing of Mr Khan.

The actor, 54, underwent surgery after sustaining six stab wounds during an early morning break-in at his home in an upscale Mumbai neighbourhood on 16 January. He has since been released from hospital.

Mr Shehzad’s father, Mohammad Rohul Amin, who lives in Jhalokhathi in southern Bangladesh, told The Times of India newspaper that he will seek to raise the false arrest of his son as a “diplomatic issue” with India.

Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have soured lately over the extradition of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India since her government was toppled by a street agitation last August.

“We may be poor but we are not criminals,” Mr Amin told the newspaper.

Mr Shehzad rode a bike taxi to earn a living in Bangladesh, his father said.

“They have arrested my son as a suspect but he is not the one whose photographs the police had released after the incident,” he said. “They have picked him up as he has some similarities to the suspect.”

Mr Amin, a village-level functionary for the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said his son was an easy target because he had entered India illegally, like hundreds of his fellow countrymen looking for work.

He son had fled to find “better earning and living prospects” after the situation in their village turned volatile last year following the return of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party to power.

“Since my son was an active supporter of Khaleda Zia,” Mr Amin said, referring to the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, “he faced immense backlash and decided to leave Bangladesh for better earning and living prospects.”

Mr Shehzad contacted an “agent” who helped him cross the border illegally and find work, first in West Bengal and then Mumbai, his father said.

Mr Amin said his son wasn’t the man seen in surveillance footage from Mr Khan’s house released by police last week. For one, he said, Mr Shehzad always wore his hair short, unlike the man in the footage with long hair.

Mr Amin’s statement, however, contradicts Mr Shehzad’s lawyer Sandeep Shekhane’s claim that his client is not a Bangladeshi.

“The police have no proof that he is a Bangladeshi,” the lawyer said.

“They said he came here six months ago. It’s a wrong statement. He has been living here for more than seven years.”

A Mumbai court on Friday extended Mr Shahzad’s police custody by five days until 29 January.

Mr Shekhane protested the decision saying there is no need to keep Mr Shehzad in custody except the “matter has been hyped” in the media.

The attack on Mr Khan made headlines beyond India and raised questions about safety in Mumbai, one of the country’s most populated cities and its financial capital.

Mr Khan is the son of the late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, a former Indian cricket captain, and Sharmila Tagore, an actress. He belongs to an erstwhile royal family and holds the ceremonial title of the 10th Nawab of Pataudi.

Bank of Japan hikes interest rates to highest level in 17 years

The Bank of Japan has raised short-term interest rates by a quarter point, the highest in 17 years, signalling efforts to normalise monetary policy in response to persistent inflation and increasing wages.

The central bank raised the policy rate to “around 0.5 per cent” by a vote of 8-1, concluding a two-day policy meeting on Friday. Toyoaki Nakamura was the only board member to dissent against the decision.

The bank’s governor, Kazuo Ueda, had signalled the hike to avoid a market shock as the broad direction of new US president Donald Trump’s policies became clearer. “There’s no change to our view of raising our policy rate and adjusting the degree of monetary support if the economy and prices move in line with our forecasts,” the governor said.

This was the highest hike in borrowing rates in Japan since the 2008 financial crisis.

The central bank had last raised the rates in July 2024, surprising analysts, sparking a period of intense volatility for the yen and prompting a one-day “flash crash” in Japanese equities which quickly rebounded.

The latest hike came as official economic data showed prices of goods and services, excluding certain volatile items like food and energy, increased by 3 per cent in December over the previous year.

The data indicated that consumer inflation could reach 2.7 per cent for the year ending March 2025, up from the October forecast of 2.5 per cent.

The key factors in the first rate hike since July appeared to be the release of these revised forecasts and clarity in initial reactions to Mr Trump’s return to the White House.

Mr Trump had threatened to impose punitive tariffs on all imports which could have impacted all countries that export to the US, such as Japan.

The central bank said it would continue to raise interest rates if economic growth and inflation stayed in line with its projections.

“The likelihood of achieving the bank’s outlook has been rising” with many companies saying they would continue to raise wages steadily in this year’s annual wage negotiations, the bank said in a statement announcing the decision.

“Underlying inflation is heightening towards the Bank of Japan’s 2% target,” it said, adding that financial markets remained stable as a whole.

Following the announcement, the yen rose around 0.5 per cent to 155.32 per dollar. The two-year Japanese government bond yield saw the highest rise since 2009, increasing to 0.705 per cent.

Chinese man sentenced to death for attack near Japanese school

A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced a 52-year-old to death for a knife attack that injured a Japanese mother and her young child and killed a bus attendant near Shanghai last June.

The attack, which took place on 24 June 2024 at a bus stop near the Japanese School of Suzhou in Jiangsu province, had caused concern about the safety of Japanese nationals in the country.

Zhou Jiasheng, apparently struggling with heavy debt and despair, targeted the Japanese mother and her son as they waited for the school bus, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

The mother and son sustained minor injuries but a female bus attendant named Hu Youping, 54, who stepped in to protect them was fatally stabbed. She succumbed to her wounds a few days later, becoming a symbol of selfless bravery.

Zhou told the court he carried out the attack because he “no longer wanted to live”.

The court handed him the death sentence.

Mr Hayashi noted that the ruling made no reference to the Japanese nationality of the mother and son injured in the attack. “We believe the crime that killed and injured innocent people, including a child, was absolutely unforgivable,” Mr Hayashi said.

Officials from the Japanese consulate in Shanghai were present for the sentencing.

The case was one of two knife attacks targeting Japanese nationals in China last year. In September, a 10-year-old Japanese student was fatally stabbed near his school in Shenzhen. The trial of the alleged perpetrator in that case only just began.

The incidents heightened fears of growing anti-Japanese sentiment in China. Following the Suzhou attack, Japanese officials had urged Beijing to ensure the safety of its citizens.

The Chinese government described the incidents as isolated, while technology companies, including Tencent and NetEase, vowed to curb online hate speech to prevent further violence.

The incident in Suzhou also drew attention to a wider problem of the rise in violent attacks across China.

In May last year, a stabbing attack at a hospital in southwestern China left two people dead and 21 injured.

In June, an attack in Jilin targeted four US university instructors and a Chinese bystander.