Many on social media reacted positively to the photo's moment of unselfconscious joy - something rare these days on the campus where it was taken, the University of Dhaka, roiled by protests and violent incidents in recent months.
Photographer Clicks Pic Of Couple Kissing In Rain. He Was Thrashed, Fired
Many on social media reacted positively to the photo's moment of unselfconscious joy - something rare these days on the campus where it was taken, the University of Dhaka, roiled by protests and violent incidents in recent months.
Image was posted by Jibon Ahmed, who later deleted the post.
Photojournalist Jibon Ahmed said the couple didn't object to photo
The photo - a dreamy scene of two lovers kissing in the monsoon rain - went viral in Bangladesh almost immediately after photojournalist Jibon Ahmed posted it on his Facebook page Monday.
Many on social media reacted positively to the photo's moment of unselfconscious joy - something rare these days on the campus where it was taken, the University of Dhaka, roiled by protests and violent incidents in recent months. Three conservative students were suspended this month for allegedly assaulting two students for holding hands.
But others in Bangladesh - a majority-Muslim country where extremism is deepening - thought the photo was indecent.
According to the Bangladesh News 18 website, one conservative blogger wrote: "Lovers are getting more audacious by the day. Earlier these things were done in secret. Now they are doing it in broad daylight. The day is not far when they will be making love in public."
Ahmed - who said the couple did not object to the photograph, taken on a public street - said he will not tolerate being a victim of moral policing, telling the website that a "twisted sense of morality cannot dictate an artist's work."
