Don't give me an art attack! Artists cry foul at illegal attempts to police galleries .Akbar Padamsee (right) with MF Husain Rituparna Som In a perfect world, artists Sanjeev Khandekar and Vaishali Narkar's exhibition Tits n Clits n Elephant Dick' would have raised little more than an eyebrow. We, of course, live in slightly less unreal terms and so it wasn't long before the ongoing exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery had an irate visitor. Based on a poem and some spam mail, the artists had interpreted human sexuality in if not explicit, an 'in your face' form. The earliest of these incidents took place in 1954 where a case of obscenity was slapped on artist Akbar Padamsee. The court ruled in favour of the artist, passing a law where an artist's work exhibited within the walls of a gallery cannot be considered ob­scene or pornographic. Says Akbar Padamsee, "According the court ruling, if the cops take any action against the artist, it can be considered contempt of court. When this happened to me, the art fraternity asked me to stop the exhi­bition. They were afraid I'd go to jail. India had just won her independence and going to jail was something of an honour. Now of course it's just the opposite. It's important to take a stand." s_rituparna@dnaindia.net" Sanjeev Khandekar, artist Perhaps there should a sign al­lowing people only above 18 into galleries. I asked the lady if we could discuss it further, but she wasn't interested. But I'm not worried. The law protects an artist displaying within a gallery.  Shireen Gandhy, gallery owner In situations like this, it's the onus of the gallery owner to intervene on be­half of the artist. I would be the spokesperson since I would have an unbiased view of the matter. In February, I had to cancel a video installation. I feel like a loser when I have to do this, but there is no end to the destruction that can result from these sentiments. DNA After hours, August 7th 2006