NEW DELHI // A documentary about the fatal gang rape of a woman in New Delhi in 2012 has been banned in India – a move its British film-maker called “arbitrary censorship”.
Leslee Udwin's India's Daughter features conversations with Mukesh Singh, one of five men convicted over the rape and torture a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in December 2012.
A transcript of the film released this week showed the convict blaming his victim for the crime and for resisting rape. He also said women are more responsible for rapes than men.
Home minister Rajnath Singh told parliament on Wednesday that Mukesh’s comments were “highly derogatory and an affront to the dignity of women”.
“The government condemns it,” he said of the documentary made by award-winning film-maker Udwin, who won rare access to New Delhi’s Tihar jail to interview the prisoner on death row.
“It will not allow any organisation to leverage such an incident and use it for commercial purpose,” he said.
Mr Singh’s comments came after a New Delhi court issued an order banning media from showing the film late on Tuesday.
Spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the New Delhi police had petitioned the court for a ban on the grounds that the film’s “objectionable content” could cause public disorder.
The December 2012 gang-rape of a young physiotherapy student as she travelled home from a visit to the cinema triggered violent protests in India.
The woman died from her injuries 13 days after the savage attack, which highlighted the frightening level of violence against women in the world’s second most populous country.
It led to a major reform of India’s rape laws, speeding up trials and increasing penalties, although many campaigners say little has changed for most ordinary victims.
India’s NDTV network was due to have shown the documentary to mark International Women’s Day on Sunday, when it will also be broadcast in six other countries including Britain.
Udwin said she was heart-broken by the ban on the documentary, in which Mukesh Singh said the victim should not have been “roam[ing] around at 9 o’clock at night” and that “a girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy”.
“I am sure, positive, that NDTV will fight this arbitrary censorship all the way,” she said.
“India is a country that values its rights and one of the most important of them is the freedom of speech, expression and that needs to be upheld.”
Udwin said earlier she had permission from both prison authorities and the home ministry to film inside the vast Tihar jail for the documentary.
But Mr Singh said she had violated the terms of the agreement, and summoned the head of the jail to explain why permission had been granted.
The ban sparked a debate on social media and in parliament, where independent MP Anu Agha said India was failing to confront the problem of violence against women.
“Banning this movie is not the answer,” she said.
“We have to confront the issue that men in India do not respect women and any time there is a rape, blame is put on the woman.”
The documentary has divided the Indian public, with some people expressing concern that a convicted rapist was being given a platform for his views.
Others said India must confront views such as the rapist’s – however abhorrent – rather than seek to hide them.
The controversy was one of India’s top trending topics on Wednesday.
“The world needs to see what kind of mindset this vile man has,” tweeted Yogita.
Karan Bhatt, however, tweeted in Hindi that the documentary was “just an excuse ... to defame India”.
NDTV network could not be reached for comment, but Udwin said she believed it would only serve to increase interest in her film.
“The more they try to stop the film, the more they are going to pique people’s interest,” she said.
“Now, everyone is going to want to see it.”
* Reuters and Agence France-Presse
