Agency report

Mumbai/Haridwar, May 6: Acting on the orders of a court in Haridwar, police in Mumbai have begun the process of attaching the property of painter M F Husain in a case related to the alleged obscene depiction of Hindu goddesses in his paintings.

Police pasted an attachment notice outside the south Mumbai residence of Husain, currently not in India, a police official said on Sunday.

"We pasted the court notice regarding the attachment of the property at Jolly Makers-III in Cuffe Parade yesterday evening," DCP Brijesh Singh told reporters.

The court of Special Judicial Magistrate K S Shukla in Haridwar ordered the police to attach Husain's property after he repeatedly failed to respond to summons to appear before it, including at the last hearing of the matter on April 13.

Singh said police in Mumbai were only implementing orders issued by the court in Haridwar. Police will write to the Mumbai collector to ascertain whether Husain owns any other properties within the city limits.

Advocate Arvind Shrivastava filed a case in the Haridwar district court in March 2006 against Husain for allegedly depicting Hindu goddesses in an obscene manner. The case was transferred nine months later to the court of Magistrate Shukla, who issued a bailable warrant against the artist on January 2 after he failed to respond to summons.

The matter will come up again in court on May 13.