‘Every nude painting not obscene’: Bombay HC tells officials to release seven confiscated artworks
The customs department had on July 1 confiscated the paintings, describing them as ‘obscene’.
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The Bombay High Court has ordered the customs department to release seven paintings by artists Francis Newton Souza and Akbar Padamsee that had been confiscated on the grounds of being “obscene”.
A bench of Justices MS Sonak and Jitendra Jain on October 25 said that customs officials cannot arbitrarily “assume the mantle of being a spokesperson for community standards” to determine what is obscene without proper justification.
“Every nude painting or every painting depicting some sexual intercourse cannot be styled as obscene,” it said while quashing an order issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs under the Airport Special Cargo Commissionerate on July 1 confiscating the paintings.
In 2022, a company called BK Polimex India Private Limited bought three paintings by Padamsee and four by Souza at auctions in the United Kingdom, Bar and Bench reported.
On March 24, 2023, BK Polimex shipped the seven artworks to India using an international courier service and labelled the shipment as “nude drawings” in compliance with customs regulations.
However, customs officials threatened to confiscate and destroy the artworks after they arrived in India, the company claimed, according to Bar and Bench.
On April 17 this year, BK Polimex sought permission to re-export the paintings to prevent them from being labelled as obscene. Three days later, the Customs Department issued a seizure memo, which declared the seven paintings...
