Jaipur police's KiKi challenge post goes awry; man in photo actually alive

Jaipur: A young man who is well and truly alive was shown as ‘dead’ by Rajasthan police in its social media campaign to caution people against ‘KiKi’ challenge. However, the police have been justifying its act saying that the photograph of the man was purchased from a website.

Jawahar Subhash Chandra is a resident of Kochi whose photo was used by the Jaipur police. His picture is displayed on the social media account in a photo frame with a garland below which is the message: Don’t challenge death. Be wise - keep away from silly stunts & advise your friends as well to stay safe.

Under the picture of a man with a garland around it was written, “In loving memory of KK — Loving boyfriend of Kiki, died while doing the Shiggy.”

Also Read: To Kiki or not to: Police across states go creative with warnings

Since then Jawahar’s phone has not stopped ringing. The first phone call was from his wife after spotting the social media post of Jaipur police.

Even after being told that Jawahar is alive Jaipur Police justified itself.

Commissioner Sanjay Agarwal acknowledged that Jawahar is alive but defended use of his photo in the campaign in which he has been shown ‘dead’ saying, “It is not illegal. Our social media team has bought the photo from a website.”

The photo is said to be a decade old when Jawahar used to do modelling. When he passed out from college, this photo was used by a website from which the Jaipur police bought it.

Jawahar has faced what South African author Shubnum Khan went through.

Recently, Shubnum posted a thread on her twitter handle saying that her photo is being used across the world in different campaign and advertisements without seeking her consent.

Initially, she was surprised but after some digging in, she came to know that she agreed to a free photo shoot in lieu of some professional portraits. She had signed a form thinking that it was to allow him to use the photographs for his portfolio but didn’t read the fine print that allowed him to sell them to anyone.