A former first-year Masters student of the Faculty of Fine Arts at MS University, Vadodara, in his statement, has told the Vadodara Police that the exhibition in which there was a dispute over an artwork involving gods and goddesses was called “awareness to respect women like goddesses”. was created to produce”. ,
Kundan Kumar Mahato, an alumnus of Masters of Visual Arts from the Department of Sculpture, surrendered before the Sayajiganj police station on June 4 after a local court rejected his anticipatory bail. His statement was recorded as part of the interrogation conducted by the police in the case.
She was expelled from MS University on May 13 after a controversy over an artwork featuring cutouts from newspaper clippings reporting crimes against women.
The 22-year-old, whose father is a daily wage laborer in his village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, was released on bail on Wednesday by the order of Principal District Judge MR Mengde. Mahto told the police that his artworks were not for public display, but were part of their assessment on May 2. I made artwork on cardboard, which was cut in the shape of a goddess, and newspaper clippings of crimes against women were pasted on the cutouts,” said Mahato.
He further said that his class teacher Shantaben and other professors had asked him to “immediately” remove the said artwork and warned him that it could lead to controversy. However, he did not immediately remove it “with the intention of explaining to the professors the logic behind creating the artwork”. “My professor Shantaben raised a voice and reprimanded me, and asked me to take my artwork off the table. I followed the instruction. No professor had guided or told me to make this artwork. And it was my own creation. Once my professor told me it might create controversy, I threw it in the garbage and I don’t know how it was finally settled,” his statement read.
The police statement said Mahto’s answers were answers to the questions asked by him as part of the investigation. “In India people pray to gods and goddesses. Similarly in India also girls and women should be compared with gods and goddesses and no one should cast an evil eye on them. Women should also get the same respect as Goddess. But many people do not understand this and make women victims of crimes like rape and molestation. It was my intention behind making the artworks, but people misunderstood the logic and sparked a controversy,” Mahato said in the statement, partly written in Hindi – his mother tongue, as he explained his “idea”. .
He said that he himself “is a follower of Hinduism and prays to the gods and goddesses”. “…and therefore, I have no intention of hurting the religious sentiments of the believers of Hinduism. However, the issue of women’s safety is close to my heart as there are frequent incidents of serious crimes against women .
Mahto has told the police that his father is a daily wage laborer in a nearby village. Muzaffarpur While in Bihar his mother is a housewife. He has a younger brother who studies in class 12th. He has said that he explained his stand to MSU’s nine-member fact-finding committee. “After the brawl started, I was scared and hence, I returned to my native village. Subsequently, MS University constituted a fact-finding committee, headed by Professor Murthy, to probe the incident. I had sent my apology letter and my explanation to the committee by email,” Mahato said.