A photo-shoot by India's photographer Raj Shetye has re-ignited the nationwide anger sparked by the gang rape of a physiotherapy student on a bus in 2012.
The fashion photographs, all taken aboard a bus, show a woman being groped by several men, in several positions including one in which the model is lying on the floor of the bus between a man's bare legs whilst in another the model appears to be sexually harassed.
The parents of the gang-rape victim, who was also tortured in the moving bus by six men, said on Thursday (August 7) they would seek a court order against Shetye for profiting from their daughter's ordeal. They also want the photographs banned.
Four men were sentenced to death for the 2012 rape of the 23-year old student, one juvenile got three years in jail and parliament introduced new anti-rape laws.
The mother of the girl, who is often referred to as 'Nirbhaya' (Hindi for 'fearless') by the Indian media, said the pictures brought back gruesome memories and slammed photographer Raj Shetye.
“It has once again brought us face-to-face with the incident and he has done it for his own publicity and to make money. He has tried to hurt the sentiments of parents and has mocked a girl's struggle. He has no right to play with anyone's sentiments,” said the mother of the New Delhi rape victim.
On December 16, 2012, the 23-year-old victim and a male friend had been returning home from the cinema, media reports say, when six men on a bus beat them with metal rods and repeatedly raped the woman. Her injures were so severe that she later died in hospital. The friend survived.
The incident sparked riots and led to public outrage across India, bringing thousands of people onto the streets in protest against authorities' failure to ensure women safety.
Nirbhaya's father said he would go all the way to the Supreme Court.
“They should be ashamed of it. What is he trying to show to the juveniles and youths of the nation? He should be punished. I will appeal the Supreme Court to punish him and the photo shoot should be banned,” he said.
Shetye has refused to speak on camera about the incident and maintained that the shoot was just a depiction of the situation of women in the country and not based on any specific rape incident.
But he told BuzzFeed on Tuesday (August 5) that his work was “not based on Nirbhaya”.
“But being a part of society and being a photographer, that topic moves me from inside... I stay in a society where my mother, my girlfriend, my sister are out there and something like this can happen to them also.”
Senior advocate and women's rights activist Abha Singh also condemned the photographs.
“Nirbhaya gang rape brought many people on the streets. It was such a horrific incident that cannot be justified. But if Mumbai's celebrity photographer makes a photo shoot and models enact that gruesome incident to make money, this is cheap publicity for a commercial venture. Incidents like rape should be boycotted and strict action should be taken against those people who try to cash on it,” said Singh.
Out of the six men convicted of the crime, one committed suicide in jail, and another - a teenager - was remanded to a juvenile reform center while the four others were given death sentence.
The lawyers representing the four convicts have managed to get a temporary stay for their clients pending final orders.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the number of rapes in India rose by 35.2 percent to 33,707 in 2013 compared to the previous year - with Delhi reporting 1,441 rapes.
REUTERS