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Belgian photographer discharged in obscenity case
A Belgian photographer was discharged by a court in Mumbai in an obscenity case slapped against him by the Mumbai police for allegedly shooting two models in the nude.
A Belgian photographer was on Monday discharged by a court in Mumbai in an obscenity case slapped against him by the city police for allegedly shooting two models in the nude.
Van de Gaetan, son of a former governor of Congo, had come to Mumbai to shoot for some brands and in January 2008 two aspiring models - Tushar Narvekar and Nitin Gupta - approached him to shoot their portfolios.
The models had agreed to be shot in the nude, said Gaetan’s lawyer Sameer Vaidya, adding their pictures were e-mailed only to them and no one else.
Despite, the models not lodging a complaint, the D N Nagar police filed a case against Gaetan, pressing charges of obscenity under the Indian Penal Code as well as the Information Technology Act on the grounds that he allegedly possessed the photos on his laptop.
Gaetan was arrested and sent to Arthur road jail where he managed to get bail two months later in March 2008 but had to stay in custody till June as he failed to found a local person to stand surety for his bail.
“The matter was widely reported and I was also termed as a paedophile and back home in Belgium my family was ostracised,” Gaetan said.
“We argued that Gaetan had not sent the pictures to anybody else other than the models who had consented to the shoot,” Vaidya added.
