Editorial Two
People of India in general and those living in Delhi in particular, have been in a state of extreme anger for the past two weeks.
Their outrage stems from ‘India’s Daughter,’ a documentary produced by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin for BBC, which was shown in Britain and several parts of Europe. The Indian government banned the documentary amidst growing opposition not only from politicians including those from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and from a cross-section of the society.
The film is about the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman, symbolically known as ‘Nirbhaya’ (Fearless) in December 2012 and the outrage it causes throughout India and elsewhere.
Provocative remarks
The main reason for the protest seems to be the comments made by Mukesh Singh, the rapist who drove the bus in which Nirbhaya was assaulted. He reportedly told Ms Udwin during an interview in Tihar Jail that (among other things) “a girl who steps out after dark is more responsible for rape than a man.”
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Ms Ludwin said that her film was a “gift of gratitude to India, to actually praise India, to single India out as a country that was exemplary in its response to this rape, as a country where one could actually see change beginning.”
Rape victim
She said that as a rape victim herself, she could feel the trauma that those around ‘Nirbhaya’ could have gone through and her main purpose was to pay tribute to the young woman who was so brutally murdered.
“The supreme irony is that those opposing the film are now accusing me of having wanted to point fingers at India, defame India and it is they who have committed international suicide by banning this film,” Ms Ludwin said.
The Indian government is surely on the back foot, trying damage control. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that permission was granted to Ms Ludwin to interview Mukesh for social purpose and not for commercial use.
As Labour MP David Shearer writes in his regular column (see Homelink), “I hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will recognise the unstoppable and rising demand for change developing among his people, and intervene to allow the domestic broadcast of ‘India’s Daughter.’ If others around the world can see it, why should not Indians be able to watch and engage in this very important debate.”
