Group of people vandalise paintings at Jaipur Art Summit, create ruckus over alleged obscenity

A person was arrested for allegedly creating ruckus at an art summit here as he along with some local activists raised objection over a painting, calling it obscene, police said on Friday.

Vijay Shankar Pandey was arrested under section 151 of CrPC (Arrest to prevent the commission of cognisable offences) last night following the complaint of the organisers of the Jaipur art summit, they said.

Pandey, along with a female activist Hemlata Sharma had protested over the display of a painting depicting a woman at the Ravindra Manch here on Thursday.

Sharma allegedly shouted at the organisers and the artists in the summit and took the painting to the police station. After some arguments at the police station, the woman returned without registering any case, SHO of Lalkothi police station Ishwar Singh had said Thursday, adding the painting was handed over to artist Radha Vinod Sharma.

Later, the organisers registered a complaint following which Pandey was placed under arrest. The painting which was handed over to Radha Binod Sharma, a London based artist, has been reinstalled.

"It was indeed most unfortunate that some persons came and forcibly took away a painting entitled 'Anubhav'. The painter also got hurt in the scuffle," founder of the summit Shailendra Bhatt said.

"The painting has been reinstalled at the same place," he said in a statement. The summit, which seeks to promote tribal and traditionalart?forms, is being held from December 7 to 11 at Ravindra Manch here. Artists from 25 countries are participating.