Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
made women’s safety as one of his top priorities; his Govt appears to have
tripped on its first big test of its sincerity. By banning Indian channels from
airing the BBC documentary titled “India’s Daughter” on the brutal rape and
subsequent death of a Delhi medical student in December 2012.
Union Home Minister
RajnathSingh should have known that such fiats are difficult to impose in the
age of internet. The Govts power to prevent the free flow of information across
digital pace is highly limited. Rajnath’s ban saw the documentary go viral on
the social media and by last night, there were already a million hits on YouTube
with several people posting the BBC serial.
There were parts in the
documentary directed by LESLEE UDWIN that were moving, particularly when
Nirbhaya’s parents relived their experience and spoke of how their dreams and
hopes lay brutally shattered by the incident. It was revealing to see the slum
colonies in which the rapist lived and grew up and how their parents, Wives or
relatives viewed their crime. The jail psychiatrist said that most of the
rapist serving terms in prison had confessed to having raped many women before
they were caught.
There were parts of the BBC
documentary that were appalling to watch. Particularly when Mukesh Singh, one
of the rapist, now on death row, showed no signs of remorse and instead said,
“earlier, they would rape and say,’ leave her, she won’t tell anyone’. Now when
they rape, they won’t let the girl go like we did. They will kill her.”
The two defense counsels of the
rapist argue that women “ask for it” when they dress in jeans and roam around
freely with their boyfriends after dark, as they claimed Nirbhaya did. One of
them even said he would set his daughter on fire if she exhibited such
behavior.
The main reason cited by the Govt
for the ban was that the views expressed by the rapist and lawyers would create
“a situation of tension and fear amongst women” and that airing would be
“against the interest of justice and public order” in India. The Govt also pointed
out that the director, LESLEE UDWIN, had misused the limited permission granted
to her to do interviews for research purposes and not for making these public.
The Delhi Police subsequently slapped a case against her. The Govt does not
appear to have viewed the documentary entirely when it took such a decision.
There are far more pressing
issues concerning woman safety that the Modi government should concentrate on
than banning the documentary. For the views expressed by the rapist and some of
his lawyers are not surprising and if the documentary played a role in creating
awareness against them, it would serve a purpose.
Attika Dutta
Msc.Media || PG:1
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