An Indian artist has been beaten up for exhibiting a number of nude paintings of Asian female celebrities.
Pranava Prakash was holding the art exhibition in the Noida district when a gang of five men barged into the premises, claiming that the images were “against Indian culture.”
Mr Prakash told reporters that he was thrown on the floor and that the men destroyed many of his paintings.
The gang are believed to be part of the hardline Hindu groups, who have protested against artworks they feel offends their religion.
The artist told Agence France-Presse news agency: “Five guys came in and started yelling at me, saying, ‘Your paintings are against Indian culture, we cannot tolerate them’.
“They slapped me twice, threw me to the floor and then began pulling down the paintings, damaging three of my pictures.”
Some of the celebrities featured in Mr Prakash’s works include The Dirty Picture star Vidya Balan, controversial actress Veena Malik and model Poonam Pandey.
One of his pop-art style paintings features Veena Malik posing with the Pakistani flag painted across her chest and stomach.
Mr Prakash criticised hardline Hindu groups, saying that “anyone who disagrees with them is the enemy.”
The incident is the latest inIndia’s debate over artistic free speech and past events include Salman Rushdie being banned from a book festival due to his controversial book Satanic Verses.
