23-05-2025
Anti-war exhibition in support of Palestine can be held, police shall not interfere: Delhi HC
An anti-war painting exhibition in support of Palestine, which is set to be held on Sunday in North Delhi's Model Town, can be organised as per the schedule without any police interference, the Delhi High Court directed on Friday in a relief to the organiser.
Keshwa Anand, a member of the Progressive Artists' League, a collective of artists based in Delhi that organises art exhibitions, discussions on art, poetry recitations, storytelling sessions, film screenings, and other cultural events, had moved the High Court and expressed apprehension over likely police interference in the event.
In his petition, Anand stated that police personnel had visited his residence on May 20. He sought the court's direction to restrain the police from interfering in any manner with the exhibition at his residence located in Model Town. He also claimed that the Delhi Police had earlier disrupted the screening of an Israel-Palestine conflict documentary, 'Occupation 101', at his residence on May 18.
According to Anand, the police had tried to 'pressure and intimidate' the Progressive Artists' League, and 'tried to coerce the petitioner into cancelling the art exhibition' scheduled for May 25. Anand submitted to the court that the personnel from the Model Town police station had asked him to cancel the event.
Following an inquiry from Justice Sachin Datta as to whether the proposed event is a private or a public event, Anand, through his lawyer Manik Gupta, told the court that he expected no more than 20 people to attend it.
The police, on the other hand, stated before the court that they had no intention to interfere and were only concerned with law and order.
Taking the police's statement on record, the court recorded that the police 'shall not interfere' with the proposed exhibition, subject to unforeseen circumstances.
According to Anand's petition, artworks such as Pablo Picasso's 'Massacred in Korea' and 'Guernica', Francisco Goya's 'The Third of May 1808' will be featured at the exhibition.
A series of other paintings, including 'the paintings of other members of the Progressive Artists' League, which are about 'the sufferings of people in Gaza, who lost their homes during the attack on the people of Palestine,' are also expected to be featured at the exhibition, the petition states.
