HC summons Tehelka for artist's lawsuit of 1 crore

PAINTER'S PLIGHT: Artist Raghu Vyas has filed a suit against Tehelka and auction house Bonhams for Rs 1 crore for getting his painting de-listed.

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New Delhi: The High Court has summoned Tehelka and auction house Bonhams for a case filed by artist Raghu Vyas, seeking damages of Rs 1 crore for losses incurred when his painting was de-listed at an auction.

The suit has dragged in controversy's poster child M F Husain, even though Husain had nothing to do with this. In fact, the pro and anti-Husain lobby within the artists' community seems to have triggered off the proceedings that led to Vyas's painting getting de-listed.

Raghu Vyas is publicly known to have criticised Husain for his Sita with Hanuman.

That was reason enough for a pro-Husain lobby to want him out of a special Tehelka-Bonhams auction in London in June this year.

This move came in the wake of the fact that Husain was going to be there to do a special painting with Shah Rukh Khan.

"They humiliated me in front of 500 people," bemoans Raghu Vyas. "I invited my clients, I have been told by my clients there is a big embarrassment for me. It is a huge loss to me."

But curator Aman Nath, who was also listed in the court's Summons has a different take on the matter.

"He was agitated with people who were objecting to his participation, who are some other people in Delhi," explained Nath. "He couldn't hypothetically file a case against them, so he's filed a case against Tehelka, in which my name also came, and that's the story."

The contract that Raghu Vyas signed with Tehelka clearly says that if the work is not auctioned for any 'unforeseen reason', Tehelka retains the option to keep the work.

However, it remains to be seen if the High Court would accept the pro-Husain and anti-Husain sentiments as an 'unforeseen reason'.