Photographing swimming pool
30 Jun 2012, 02:28
I am mother of two kids. Without our knowledge, a newspaper photographer took our photo when I was teaching swimming to my kids in a ladies swimming pool of a club. i was in a swimming suit. Then a leading newspaper published it with a caption ” kids beating heat during summer”, prominently showing me in swimming suit. It was a great embarassment.
Is it is an intrusion of privacy? Or anyone can take photograph at a public place and publish it in newspapers? Is there any legal remedy if so under which law ?
1 Reply
Arguably, this is invasion of privacy. In India, invasion of privacy to my knowledge is not a crime. Rather it is a tort (i.e a civil wrong). Unfortunately, the law relating to invasion of privacy is not very advanced in India, and there are very few cases where compensation has been awarded. One such case that comes to mind is Phoolan Devi v. Shekar Kapoor relating to the depiction of Phoolan Devi in the movie The Bandit Queen (you could do a Google search for more details on this). All said and done, even if you initiate civil proceedings and succeed, it is likely that you will be awarded only nominal compensation.