A photographer provokes: In India women are worth less than sacred cows (Photo)

The project is by photographer Sujatro Ghosh. Women portrayed in the most famous places in Delhi. Every 15 minutes in the country a woman is raped. The "cow watchers" protest on social media and call for the young man to be slaughtered in front of a mosque.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - Women posing in front of the camera lens wearing a cowhide mask on their head. This is the subject of a project by Sujatro Ghosh, a 23-year-old photographer living in Delhi, who is photographing his friends at the most famous places in the Union's capital. With his shots he wants to launch a provocation: why are women being considered less sacred than cows in India?

According to recent data, an Indian woman suffers a rape every 15 minutes. His photos have gone viral on Facebook and Twitter and were published by the BBC. Within a few days the youn gman was inundated with positive and negative criticisms. On the one hand, he has received the solidarity of women from all over the world, eager to participate in his campaign. On the other hand, the wrath of the "cow watchers", promising punishment.

Ghosh is originally from Calcutta (West Bengal) and moved to the capital a few years ago. Speaking to the British Broadcaster he said he was " " perturbed by the fact that in my country, cows are considered more important than a woman, that it takes much longer for a woman who is raped or assaulted to get justice than for a cow which many Hindus consider a sacred anima.". The cases of violence against women, he added, "go on for years in the courts [...] while when a cow is slaughtered, Hindu extremists immediately kill or beat anyone suspected of the slaughter."

The project is its "form of protest" against the growing influence of self-proclaimed "cow protectors", which have gained more and more freedom since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. In the last year, the issue of "sacred cows" has become a sensitive theme, dividing society on religious lines and social belonging, as beef is consumed by Christians and Muslims. The photographer has received death threats. "Trolls on social media," said Ghosh, "said that I and my models should be slaughtered in front of Jama Masjid [the Delhi Mosque]. Others accuse me of instigating the uprising and demand my arrest. But I'm not afraid because I know I’m working for a greater good."