Artist Siddhartha Kararwal who created the installation called 'Bovine Divine' had put up a plastic styrofoam cow suspended mid-air by a balloon.
In a strange yet shocking incident, a piece of art displayed at the Jaipur Art Summit, meant to spread awareness about saving cows from plastic consumption, created a furore on Saturday leading to the detention of two artists, reports The Indian Express. The event was hosted by the Jawahar Kala Kendra, a centre of cultural and artistic activities.
The Rajasthan government on Sunday removed a Station House Officer and a constable for alleged dereliction of duty and not tackling the situation properly. "SHO of Bajaj Nagar Police station, Mahendra Gupta, and constable Sumer Singh have been sent to police lines for dereliction of duty and not tackling the situation properly," Jaipur Police Commissioner JS Rao said.
Artist Siddhartha Kararwal who created the installation called 'Bovine Divine' had put up a styrofoam cow suspended mid-air by a balloon. He said that the aim was to show “how cows consume plastic and die due to its consumption”. However within 30 minutes of the work being put up for the show, police came and asked them to take down the artwork immediately, even before the show began.
Artists Chintan Upadhyay and Anish Ahluwalia tried to reason with the police but the conversation turned into an argument. They both were taken to Bajaj Nagar police station and detained for at least three hours.
Commissioner JS Rao said that as per media reports, the cops dragged artist Aneesh Ahluwalia by his hair along with another artist Chintan Upadhya to the police station after they protested the removal of the installation.
According to Scroll.in the police asked the artists why they were flying a dead cow. "When we explained that the cow was not dead, we were asked if it was alive," Kararwal said. He said that the police told them to write essays and paint to create awareness about the issues.
The installation was taken down, it was relocated by a bunch of people who performed a puja and garlanded the cow.
According to The Hindu, SHO Mahendra Gupta said that the artists were not detained but taken to the police station just to explain to them that certain sections could create an issue about the artwork and hence it had to be dismantled.
The incident comes after a newly appointed governing council of Jaipur's Jawahar Kala Kendra was scrapped. The council included Anish Kapoor, Jeet Thayil and Ranjit Hoskote. Kapoor had written a damning piece on PM Narendra Modi a day before the council was dissolved.
Related read: Rajasthan govt removes Anish Kapoor's name from cultural panel two days after nomination
Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje tweeted saying that the police had extended an apology.
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