A young Indian couple has received mounting backlash after posting an intimate post-wedding photoshoot that has since gone viral on social media.
Couple Lekshmi and Hrushi Karthik tied the knot in September, and wanted a memorable photoshoot to make up for their downscaled wedding ceremony in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the images, they can be seen laughing, hugging and chasing after each other in a tea plantation, while covered in white silk comforters borrowed from their hotel room. Hrushi’s photographer friend Akhil Karthikeyan was enlisted to be behind the camera, reports the BBC.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
“It was great fun. We laughed through it. We were really excited about it. It was a part of our honeymoon, we were just married and we felt free,” Hrushi told the BBC.
Just a few days later, Akhil uploaded the images onto Facebook and was shocked at the amount of hate the images received. Most of the abuse was directed at Lekshmi.
“We received two days of relentless hate,” Lekshmi explained. “People said we were showing nudity, they asked if we were wearing clothes underneath, they said we were doing it for attention and seeking publicity.”
“It was really awful for me. They were harassing me much more than him. They were telling me to act in porn films, I was body shamed,” she says. “The trolls included a lot of women too. They found my earlier photos where I was wearing no makeup and began comparing, saying look how ugly she looks in these photos.”
However, there were those publicly supporting the couple. Many advised them to ignore the haters.
Unfortunately, their family was not in full support of the images. Many asked them to remove the images and even removed the couples from family WhatsApp groups for refusing. The pair told the BBC they refuse to take the images down, as that would mean they are giving in to their bullies.
“If we do, they will take it as admission of our guilt, that we did something wrong,” says Lekshmi. “But we didn’t do anything wrong.”
Picture: Unsplash
