Police didn't understand language of art: Artist Archana Hande

I have lost one friend. I don’t want to risk losing another. The manner in which the police have carried out the investigation has been unfair to both Hema and Chintan

Archana Hande

I have lost one friend. I don’t want to risk losing another. The manner in which the police have carried out the investigation has been unfair to both Hema and Chintan.

It is very easy to point fingers at the husband. On the other hand, it will be wrong to look at the fabricators and other helpers — with whom artists work — with suspicion. That would just be too biased; these are people who also need to make their livelihoods.

It has been a very emotional time for friends of Hema and Chintan. We are still struggling to understand why things have come to pass the way they have.

It is also sad that the police have not understood the language of art. They have [in the past] called a crate a coffin and it has been unfair to us artists. If you step into an artist’s studio, you will see the number of things that can be easily called objectionable.

Besides, there is voyeurism and sensationalism when it comes discuss the murder of a woman. The language reporting such incidents needs to change.

I have not been able to summon the courage to meet Chintan. It is a helpless situation when the investigation doesn’t seem to have moved ahead. As far as Chintan’s artistic career is concerned — can you possibly exhibit a person’s work in circumstances like this? An art show is a celebration for an artist, and this, truly, doesn’t seem like that time.

(The writer is a Mumbai-based artist)

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