Contrary to media reports, freelance photographer Saiful Huq Omi yesterday claimed he had not asked burn victims in Dhaka Medical College Hospital to pose for him.
Media reports, including that of the Dhaka Tribune, showed Omi snapping away as a burn victim stood with his bandaged hands raised above the shoulders with a backdrop held up by presumably an assistant.
In a statement yesterday, Omi said he had taken the photo only after the victim’s (Md Khokon) consent. Khokon is currently undergoing treatment at bed number two of the high dependency unit (HDU) with 20% burns.
The freelancer alleged that news reports and photo published the day before had misled the readers.
Omi regretted if the “wrongly presented news item and photo” had hurt anyone’s sentiments, and that it was not his intention to do so.
Khokon on Saturday told the Dhaka Tribune: “What can I do? You journalists come and ask us to pose and we simply cooperate. But it is only your sensitivity that might understand our problems.”
Activities of the freelance photographer inside the HDU around 1pm triggered an uproar among some five other photojournalists present there. They protested the act and asked him to leave. They also reported him to the hospital authorities. Omi left the ward after 10-15 minutes.
Omi’s statement says: “The patient in question was standing with his hands raised due to his physical complication.” The photos were taken as per the patients’ wishes, he added. About using a black backdrop to take portraits of the patients, Omi said it was a feature of his signature documentary style.
However, the Dhaka Tribune photographer who was present at the HDU on Saturday says a photographer cannot manipulate the environment for doing documentary photography.
He said Khokon’s wife was ready to feed him when Omi had asked the patient to get up from his bed. The freelancer earlier asked the attendant of another patient, at bed number one, to make room for his photoshoot.