India blocks rape film by Leslee Udwin-India’s Daughter

The Central Government of Delhi has instructed not to telecast the controversial documentary on the 2012 Delhi Gang Raped victim, Nirbhaya. This is to be noted that in one of the interview with the raped Victim in the documentary, the later has blamed the victim for the rape.

Home Minister, Rajnath Singh instructed the ministries of information and Broadcasting, external affairs and information technology to make sure that the British Filmmaker Leslee Udwin’s film not to be telecast on national television.

The BBC announced that earlier which was originally scheduled for March 8, International Women Day, would not be aired due to ban India.

“It’s an attempt to Block and Derail the Film. It’s very sad but hardly surprising, in anyways. And it does not really worry me because this is a Sick Society”. ——-Leslee Udwin, British Film-Maker.

“The Government is trying to point out that orders to shoot the documentary was given in 2013 by the previous Government”-Rajiv Shukla, Congress Leader.

As per the sources, the Home Minister was also planning legal action against the director, Udwin who left the country. She appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to deal with this unceremonious silencing of the film”.

Read: Reaction of victim families after film screening

The parliament was also rocked by the issue and women MPs from opposition parties like Kirron Kher, Jaya Bachchan, and Mayawati stormed the Rajya Sabha. Samajwadi Party MP, Jaya Bachchan asked “It’s been three years, what justice are you going to give to the memory of this woman? Please tell us what the immediate action will be,”

“I was stunned and deeply hurt when I came to know about it. I spoke to the authorities and made sure all steps are taken to stop the broadcast…the government will institute an inquiry into this incident and responsibility will be fixed,” – Rajnath Singh.

The BJP Leader, Meenakshi Lekhi said, “Somewhere this(December 16 Gang Rape Documentary-India’s Daughter) is an attempt to dent the image of India.” On the other hand Congress Leader, Priya Dutt share, “I am shocked at the ban. Rapes happen daily and has to be exposed. The documentary showed mindset of the rapist”.

Interestingly, when the first draft of the interview with the rapist Mukesh Singh was shot, the lawyer, M L Sharma said that the case was sub-judice and Singh had not been convicted of the charges.

In the first part of interview, Mukesh was wearing a black and white checked shirt inside Tihar Jail. While, as per the jail rules and manual, only those prisoners who are under trial can wear casual clothes, and rest all have to wear jail uniform.

When questioned, Udwin claimed that when the interview was taken, Mukesh was already convicted and the permission was received from proper channels for the interview.

Sharma the lawyer told media, “When that lady come to interview me, she told me she had interviewed Mukesh in September before the verdict convicting him. She also interviewed him after that. At that time, in September I was not his lawyer but then I was reinstated. She also wanted to interview Pawan but I told him to refuse consent,”.

Udwin said in the course of the film, that they had interviewed seven rape convicts, but only they made Singh’s interview part of the film. Though footage of Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta is used in the film but no verbal interview is shown.

The director of the movie, Leslee Udwin, left India in the midst of all this controversies for the promotion of  her film in other parts of the world. She told with teary eyes that she wanted to give India, a gift in the form of this documentary, “The India’s Daughter”. Leslee also told in an interview that, she herself is a rape survivor and the film is not biased and is focused on how the rapist think while doing the act.