Indian photographer, Raj Shetye, is being criticized for his photoshoot that showcases a woman being sexually assaulted.
The pictures immediately triggered the 2012 incident involving Nirbhaya, a 23-year-old physiotherapist who was gang-raped and murdered by five men, after being lured onto an unlicensed bus in India. The victim's parents demanded Mumbai photographer Raj Shetye to remove the pictures that were published this week on Behance, a website used to create personal graphic portfolios, claiming the photographer was mocking their daughter.
Shetye's series of pictures, titled "The Wrong Turn," featured a young woman in different outfits fighting off a group of men on a bus.
Shetye defended himself to BuzzFeed, saying that he wasn't trying to emulate that exact incident. Instead, he claimed to be expressing his feelings about sexual assault through his art.
"On a personal level, too, I got many reactions," he tells BuzzFeed. "On my Facebook, from my friends. It makes me feel satisfied about my work - at least the work I did is so impactful that I'm able to shed some light on this. I don't feel happy, but it makes me feel satisfied. That whatever I've tried to communicate is being communicated."
Shetye is a husband, son and brother, and he acknowledges that it's possible for a similar crime to occur within his own family, too.
The photographer's work has since been removed from Behance.
According to Reuters, police said the outcry over the 2012 case made women more willing to report rape.
