A renowned Bangladesh photographer said on Sunday he has been the victim of “unwanted cruelty” after being sacked over an image of a couple kissing that raised a social media storm in the conservative Muslim-majority country.
The Purboposhchimbd news portal said Jibon Ahmed was “not fit” to work for the company because of doubts about whether the kiss image was staged.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Ahmed said he had been “exposed to unwanted cruelty” due to the “powerful” photo.
The couple were snapped kissing in monsoon rain on the steps of the Dhaka University campus. He posted it — with the caption “Songs of rains — let love be free” — on his Facebook page while the news portal also used it.
It drew social media praise for bringing a hint of social freedom. But conservatives questioned whether the photo had breached Bangladesh’s public decency mores.
Media commenters asked whether Ahmed sought the couple’s permission to publish the photo.
Mr. Ahmed said other photographers confronted him over the kiss image.
“They asked me why did I shoot the photo. One of them slapped me during the quarrel,” he said. “I said it was a symbol of pure love.”
After publishing the photo, Purboposhchimbd later wrote an article saying it believed the photo was “preplanned” and the photographer had “apologised”.
The editor, Khujista Nur-e-Naharin, said the company asked Mr. Ahmed to take legal action against the photographers who allegedly beat him, but he did not turn up for a meeting to discuss the issue. She also said there were suspicions the photo was staged with “models” and that Mr. Ahmed was not “fit” to work for the news portal.
The couple in the photo have not made any public comment.
Published - July 29, 2018 08:51 pm IST
