7 Women Share Horrid Experiences Of Getting Photographed Without Their Consent & Here's What Can Be Done

While consent as a concept is still extremely hard to fathom for some, the mere absence of it leads to some disturbing experiences. Women have always shared stories of harassment and being photographed without consent is something that a majority of women have been troubled by.

We talked to 7 women and their experiences are truly horrid. After hearing their stories, we decided to talk to a lawyer to understand if there was legal recourse that one could take against such perverted individuals. Here's what we heard and found about our system:

1.

" I got photographed at the Taj Mahal, just when I was chilling on a park bench. At first I thought the two boys were taking a picture of the monument behind me, but then I quickly realized they were taking a photo of me. I got up and walked up to them to ask to look at their phone, but they scooted in fear seeing me. Felt super violated. I was so pissed for a bit."

2.

"So we went for a college day trip to Red Fort. We were a gang of 20 girls and were roaming about together within the monument boundaries. Our professor was also there with us. Then I saw one man sitting at a distance with his friend and holding up his phone to us and I knew he was filming us/taking a photograph. I told my classmates and we told our professor about it. She sort of indirectly told us to ignore it. We went up to him, I confronted him. I asked him to show his phone to us. After a lot of argument and catching him deleting stuff, I snatched his phone and I knew I was right. There were pictures of the girls and videos. He focused and zoomed on to our private parts. Stupid piece of shit. I deleted the pictures and threw his phone on the ground."

3.

"A man yesterday took photos of me while I was crossing the red light outside my office. He stopped his car at the light to take photos. I screamed at him, but no one helped obviously. He at first drove his car away, then came back to ask me if I was following him. I said I was, so he got all aggressive, and refused to let me check his phone. This went on for good five minutes in the middle of the road. I was by myself, in a dress so had to let it go. I want to say it's okay, I'm used to it but that's even sadder, no?"

4.

"I was in my first year of college and sitting alone in the college canteen. Someone from the photography society started taking photos of me with his DSLR camera. I just walked up to him and asked him to show me his camera. I did find photos of myself in his camera which he said were for artistic purposes. He did delete them readily but the explanation was just not enough for me."

5.

"One evening, I was smoking in a market close to my house. A man who seemed easily in his 50s was initially staring at me and then pointed his phone camera at me. It felt like he was taking photos of me but didn't go up to him out of fear."

6.

"I was out with my female friends and we were just sitting outside a metro station waiting for one friend to arrive. A group of boys had their phone camera pointed at us and were giggling. After a point, we became super uncomfortable and left the spot."

7.

"Travelling in a fairly empty metro in V-neck top, I could almost feel the person sitting across from me take my photos. Before I had to get off, I walked to him and asked him what exactly did he think he was doing with his phone. He just kept grinning at me and refuting that he took any photos of me. It was the shameless grinning that really pissed me off."

After hearing these stories, we needed to understand if there was any way we could bring these perverts to the notice of the authorities and we decided to talk to Rishi Wadhwa, a technology and media lawyer, about how one can approach the situation legally. He told us:
"While photography in public isn't illegal in India, if the woman being photographed feels uncomfortable, the photographer in question can be booked under section section 354D, which refers to stalking of a woman. Moreover, the Government has provided all citizens the Right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and the same may be invoked in case a women¡¯s privacy is invaded by way of unauthorised pictures been taken of her."

What if the woman was to find photos of herself published on social media without her consent?

"A women has the right to initiate both criminal (police complaint/cyber cell complaint/ FIR) and civil actions (injunction application to restrain publication and further distribution of the photograph) against an offender so as to make sure that the publication of the photograph in question is taken down and the copies of the said photographs, including the negatives are given back to the victim and/or destroyed."

But what if the image is being circulated on messaging apps instead of social media which is more public?

"The circulation of photographs on platforms such as Whatsapp and Messenger would could attract legal sanctions depending on the nature of use of such photographs. Section 66A of the IT Act for example, makes sending of ¡°grossly offensive or menacing information, false information to cause annoyance, inconvenience, danger, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, or messages that will cause annoyance or inconvenience or deceive or mislead the recipient about the origin of such messages, by means of a computer resource or a communication device¡± as an offence punishable with ¡°imprisonment up to three years and fine¡±.

While we do have enough provisions, legally speaking, one cannot deny that raising your voice against such acts requires courage and more women need to raise their voice against such perversion.