It is a teaching staff residence at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). It is the home of Professor Balbir Singh Katt and his wife Latika, both leading sculptors. But in today?s India, that does not matter much for Professor Katt, formerly head of the fine arts department at BHU. He has been missing for over three years now without a trace, while his wife who has been harassed constantly by the university authorities, lives behind closed doors for her safety.

Katt?s work stands prominently at the entrance of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, but even the CBI has not apparently been able to solve the mystery of his disappearance.

It is alleged that as a member of the university?s finance committee, he has refused to sign documents that would have cleared a shady deal worth over a crore of rupees. He was threatened. He, then, disappeared into thin air in BJP-ruled UP at the time.

Majburi: A sculpture by Bhupen Barman

Then under vice-chancellor TR Simhadri, his wife was harassed with every effort being made to drive her away from the university. But she has determinedly stayed put and even applied for her missing husband?s post. She will not leave until the mystery of her husband?s disappearance is solved. As an artist, she has learnt to fight for her self-respect.

It is not as easy as it sounds. Katt?s assistant, a student at the university, was not only allegedly kidnapped by the proctorial staff and recovered only with police intervention, but also last year, he was stabbed by a fellow-student, it is said, who is yet to be punished. Strong-arm methods of dealing with artists are routine in a university environment. Creating is a thing to be suppressed even if it means ruining the vast global market opening up for the Indian contemporary art.

In fact, it is alleged that organisations floated by the Sangh Parivar, like Sanskar Bharati, have not only cornered juicy contracts but also prizes at the recent state – Lalit Kala show with a number of artists calling for a review of the awards because of blatant corruption. This is not the way to help project Indian art on the world level.

Indian sculpture, going back to Mauryan, Kushan and Gupta art, has a tradition of being among the best in the world.

As a result, contemporary sculptors like Ramkinkar Baij, Adi Davierwalla, Dhanraj Bhagat, Amar Nath Sehgal, Balbir and Latika Katt, Anita Dube, KS Radhakrishanan and Atul Sinha, to name only a few, have had to achieve a high standard of excellence even to be noticed. Any state worth its name ought to ensure the best possible exposure for contemporary Indian sculpture instead of harassing our leading sculptors.

The world sculpture market, especially for modernist sculpture, is good, showing a price rise of 20 per cent in 2003, over and above 2002, the year in which 33 sculptures sold at a price above $1 million (Rs 162.9 million) at Christie?s six months earlier, also in New York; and the best of Diego at $2.1 million (Rs 113.1 million) at Christie?s in New York about the same time as the first work. Giacomethi?s approach to sculpture, its dense quality and concentration, is visible in the works of a number of our good bronze casters, including Ramkinkar Baij, KS Radhakrishnan and Manish Kansara.

Only our sculptors, faced with persecution by normal brigades and the state machinery, are fighting hard to survive.

But artists will survive despite all odds. In fact, visiting Latika Katt at BHU, I noted how her latest works (seen to be exhibited by Ranu Modi) are exquisite reliefs that reflect the delicacy of the painting of Ganesh Haloi, reminding one that art under siege may offer even higher aesthetic heights defeating the purpose of its besiegers.