Bangladesh photographer who clicked kissing couple in public faces wrath
Dhaka, July 28 (IBNS): A Bangladeshi photographer has alleged that he has been facing the wrath of self-proclaimed social media moral police for spreading 'obscenity' after he posted an image online where a couple could be seen kissing each other.
Jibon Ahmed had posted the photo on social media giant Facebook. The photo was reportedly clicked on University of Dhaka campus.
"An image is subjective and anyone can interpret it the way they want. I cannot really help it. Everyone has a different way of looking at things. To some it's love to some it's obscene," Ahmed told News18.
Ahmed worked with a news platform called Purbapashchim.
He alleged that his colleagues attacked him.
"They gave me no reason for the assault. I have not taken any legal action because these are my colleagues and I have to work with the same people in future,"the photographer told News 18.
Ahmed, who was also fired from his job, told the news channel: " "In this case too, the office gave me no exact reason for firing me. I was just told that I can't work here anymore."
Social media attacks:
One Twiter user who named his account as Tariqul Islam posted: "Lovers are getting more audacious with the passage of time. Earlier these things were done in secret. Now they are doing it in broad daylight. The day is not far when they are going to perform lovemaking in public."
Ahmed defends:
Ahmed said the couple did not object when he clicked the image.
He said in an interview with The Washington Post that he was scouting for photographs near the teacher-student center at the university Monday when he saw a couple “lip kissing” in the rain, a moment that filled him with delight. He captured the moment in one click and sent it to his newsroom but was disappointed when his editors decided not to run the photo, saying it would prompt a negative response.
“I said, no, you cannot portray this photo negatively, because I found it a symbol of pure love,” said Ahmed, 30.
Ahmed's ex-employer react:
While Ahmed claimed that his colleagues had beaten him up over the image, his employers claimed that they supported him and vowed to take legal action.
The attack was not related to the professional duties. These attacks were the result of his personal transactions," Khujista Nur-e-Naharin, editor of the news portal Purboposhchimbd, wrote in an email to The Post.
The editor told the newspaper Ahmed did not come to a meeting to discuss the attack further and has been "absent from office from 24th July."
"Everyone at the editorial level congratulates him for taking this picture," the editor wrote.
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