So today’s strange law isn’t an official law but something has been implemented quite recently in Mumbai.
The BBC News article entitled “India Mumbai identifies ‘no selfie’ zones after woman dies” identifies 15 places in the Indian city of Mumbai were talking selfies “can be dangerous”.
Some of these places include major tourist attractions such as the iconic sea-facing Marine Drive promenade and the popular Girgaum Chowpatty beach.
The reason the police have banned selfies in these designated areas was due to an 18 year old girl who drowned in the sea last week after taking a selfie.
This idea hasn’t come out of the blue, as last year the authorities made the decision to impose a “no selfie zone” at a Hindu festival due to fears they could cause stampedes and signs saying “no selfie zone” can be seen around the two festival sites in the city (which is the capital of Maharashtra state).
Mumbai police spokesperson Dhananjay Kulkarni told the BBC that the places where taking selfies was risky included Bandra Bandstand, Sion Fort and Worli Fort, all places popular with tourists.
“The police will now approach the city’s municipality to prevent accidents at such spots due to people taking selfies. The municipality may deploy life guards and install warning signs,” Mr Kulkarni said.
The police warning follows Saturday’s incident when three girls trying to take a selfie near the sea in the Bandra area fell into the water.
One of them drowned and her body is yet to be recovered.
A passerby, 37-year-old Ramesh Walanju, jumped in and helped save the other two girls but was washed away by the choppy waters and his body was found floating in a nearby creek on Monday, AFP said.
In September a Japanese tourist died after allegedly slipping down the stairs while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal monument in Agra.
Though this may not be so unusual, and could become a growing trend as last year, the Russian government reportedly launched a campaign to make young people think twice before snapping selfies in risky situations, this is because in May a 21-year-old woman survived accidentally shooting herself in the head while posing for a selfie with a gun in Moscow.
Allegedly there may have been several cases of children being electrocuted while taking selfies on top of railway carriages in Russia – which just seems absurd!
Plus you probably saw in the news last August, that a man in Spain was gored to death by a bull while taking a selfie at the annual bull running festival in the town of Villaseca de la Sagra.
What do you make of this? Are taking selfies dangerous?
Rebecca x
#janlawblogpost