New Delhi, March 5 – A controversial film on the Delhi gangrape, which features an interview with one of the six rapists currently serving his sentence in New Delhi’s Tihar jail, continued to rock Parliament for a second day. Making an statement in Rajya Sabha, Home Minister Rajnath Singh accused the UPA government for giving the permission to shoot the film inside the jail premises.
The documentary, titled ‘India’s Daughter’, includes an interview of Mukesh Singh, who is among the six men who raped the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on December 16, 2012 on board a moving bus. In the film, the convict says the woman should not have “resisted” while being raped.
Rajnath Singh responds in Parliament:
Rajnath Singh said he was “personally hurt” by the permission granted to shoot the film in a jail and said his government will ensure the film is not telecast. The documentary, made by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, is scheduled for a Women’s Day premier on BBC.
“I am surprised over the circumstances in which such orders (to shoot the documentary) were given,” Rajnath said, adding, “The permission was granted during the UPA regime. Our government has obtained a restraining order on broadcasting of the film.”
When Janata Dal-United MP Ali Anwar intervened to ask why the rapists have not been hanged yet, the Home Minister said, “This is the court’s decision, I can’t say anything on that.” An agitated Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan then got up to say, “I don’t want any more assurances. I want to know what actions are being taken.”
Will the Nirbhaya documentary be telecast?
On Tuesday, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had asked news channels not to air the BBC documentary. The Delhi Police also said it will move the court against its airing and registered a case. Amid the controversy, Udwin said she had followed the “necessary protocol” in making her documentary.
“I wrote a letter to Tihar’s director general saying that the film will be in public interest and there won’t be any unnecessary sensationalism. I was given the permission and I interviewed these convicts from October 8 to 10, 2013,” she told reporters. She said the controversy “is unnecessary”.
The documentary is to be broadcast in India on March 8 on NDTV 24X7 at 9 pm, and simultaneously shown in countries like Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Canada. But with police moving court against its telecast, a question mark hangs over its telecast.
What happened in the Nirbhaya case?
Meanwhile, the parents of the 23-year-old medical intern reiterated their demand for hanging the rapists even as protesting women’s rights groups termed the interview “totally unacceptable” and “very disturbing”.
The victim was raped and assaulted with an iron rod after she was tricked into boarding an unregistered private bus to go home after watching a movie with a male friend. She died 13 days after the attack after being airlifted to a Singapore hospital for treatment.
The Supreme Court is hearing the appeal against the death sentence awarded to the four men. One of the six rapists is a juvenile and is in a remand home, while another man, said to be the main culprit, hanged himself in his Tihar jail cell while awaiting trial.
-INDIA TODAY
