From: bcsabha.kal...@gmail.com To: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dont-shoot-the-messenger-why-we-need-to-watch-bbcs-banned-documentary-indias-daughter/532199-3.html At the fag end of BBC's much discussed and now banned documentary 'India's Daughter' defense lawyer Anil Singh points out "There are some 250 cases of murders and rapes against some of sitting members of the parliament in court. No one takes note of those? Why only take action against a select few?" And that perhaps, as I fathom after watching the documentary, could be a reason enough for the government to ban the screening of the film in India.Based on the horrific gang-rape that took place on 23 year old Jyoti Singh on 16 December 2012 in Delhi, the documentary by filmmaker Leslee Udwin and commissioned by BBC, has been banned in India by the I&B Ministry. Reason: Government claimed the filmmaker had violated certain rules of not seeking proper permission from the concerned authorities. BBC was also accused of not screening the unedited footage to the concerned authorities.In a country, where items girls are celebrated, cheap lyrics are sung and danced to, films with dollops of sexual innuendos are made into Rs 100 crore blockbuster hits- it is rather sad that a documentary which just states the hard facts and shows a mirror to us Indians has led to so much uproar and debate.The ban has ensured that we all watch it. Because you know, whatever is forbidden, has to be watched by us Indians.#indias daughter #bbc documentary #ban of bbc documentary #16 december rape caseThe documentary opens with Jyoti Singh's parents showing baby pictures of their beloved daughter and then sort of reconstructs the sequence of events that took place on that fateful night interspersed with Mukesh Singh, one of the accused in the case and Jyoti's parent's accounts.There has been much uproar on rapist Mukesh Singh's cold remarks in the film. During his interview, Mukesh mentions how a girl is far more responsible than a boy for rape. Mukesh, calmly explains, "You can't clap with one hand - it takes two hands. A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 per cent of girls are good."Mukesh, who along with other three have been sentenced to death by the court, spoke to the filmmaker in a jail interview and admitted that had the girl not fought back or resisted, they would have not killed her and just beat up her male friend who had accompanied her that night.While we all suitably feel appalled at Mukesh's statements, let's take a step back and ponder a bit. Where have we heard something like this before? Haven't most of us heard this at home or outside at least once in our lifetime? As a woman in India, I am always reminded of how vulnerable I am as an individual and how there are certain limitations for me. Not by my parents or my immediate circle of people, but surely by the society at large.So when Mukesh Singh explains, I don't feel outraged. I feel sad. I feel more angry when the defence lawyers of the rapists explain how a girl should conduct in public and how she has no business to be out at night with an 'unknown stranger'. They are supposed to be members of the educated, progressive India which the world marvels about, is in awe of. They, I am sure, have women colleagues working late nights outside home. Do they think they are too immoral? I shudder to think that how many, like those 'educated' men, around me feel the same about women?Perhaps, that's the reason the film has been banned in India- because it may open a can of worms (or has it already?), because it has the ability to show a mirror to us, our society. In fact, the film doesn't really give a one sided approach to the incident. It also highlights the kind of society that the accused come from- where violence is part of their daily life, surviving each day is a challenge and women are the lesser mortals amongst men.The ban has ensured that we all watch it. Because you know, whatever is forbidden, has to be watched by us Indians. That's how we are. So, in a way, while the government takes a high moral ground and lives in denial about the nagging problems that exist in the society, we should thank them for they made us watch a something that we otherwise may have overlooked, had it been screened at a regular time on television.Watch 'India's Daughter' before YouTube is asked to take it down. Because more than the daughter, the film is about the sons and their mind and why we need to change it.=========http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Nirbhaya-filmmaker-confronted-her-own-ghosts-through-docu-04032015013026 Mar 04 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)Nirbhaya filmmaker confronted her own ghosts through docuShobita DharNew DelhiLeslee Udwin Was Sex Abused At 18, Harboured Guilt For YearsLeslee Udwin’s interview of Mukesh Singh, one of the men convicted for raping and killing Nirbhaya, has created a storm with his remark that she shouldn’t have fought back while she was being raped.Udwin, who spoke to Singh for a TV documentary titled “India’s Daughter”, says she confronted her own monsters while making the film. At the age of 18, Udwin was sexually assaulted, and she kept it a secret and harboured immense guilt for years. “I questioned myself — was I giving the wrong signals, was my dress provocative?” says the 59-year-old who is best known for co-producing “East is East”, a film capturing the life of immigrants from the subcontinent in London. She was reminded of the attack on her when she saw news reports on widespread protests that shook India in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya gang rape in December 2012. Such a massive outpouring of anger fired up Udwin to pack her bags and spend the next two years in India, studying the issue of why men rape. She says working on the 62minute documentary gave her courage to talk about surviving rape. “I realized that the issue is more important than I am… I should stand up with dignity and tell them the shame is not mine,“ says Udwin, who interviewed eight convicted rapists lodged in Tihar jail for the film. Considering her own history , Udwin says she was extremely worried about meeting these criminals. “There was so much anger in me that I wondered if I will be able to contain myself. I thought, ‘What if I hit him?’” However, when she actually met these men, she says she only felt profound pity. “There was a sense of overwhelming pity that we live in a world where women are treated in such degraded and depraved manner.” Udwin met the convicts along with a psychologist and a set of 50 questions that tried to establish their idea of women. “What they all have in common is the belief that women are of lesser value. They feel that if women break restrictions men have imposed on them, it is a reason to attack them,” says Udwin. While reading out the list of injuries inflicted on Nirbhaya to Mukesh Singh, one of her attackers, Udwin says that he didn’t show any remorse. During his interaction with Akshay Thakur and Pavan Gupta, co-convicted in the case, Dibang, who has co-produced the film, says that both of them cited equally gruesome attacks in Barabanki and Rohtak and asked why only they were being targeted. “They said— yeh to sab karte hain,” says Dibang. Udwin says she is against the death penalty. In the film, Akshay Thakur’s wife asks, ‘ Are you going to hang all rapists’? Udwin feels the solution is respect for women and gender sensitization. It should be part of school curriculum. “When you suppress such feelings in people they become furtive and that’s not healthy,” she adds. She is now collaborating with various NGOs to campaign for gender quality. ==========http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Death-penalty-stayed-convicts-appeals-in-SC-04032015013028
Mar 04 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)Death penalty stayed, convicts' appeals in SCNew Delhi:TIMES NEWS NETWORKA documentary showing the Nirbhaya convicts as unrepentant rapists is likely to be aired at a time when their appeals are pending before the SC. After a trial court convicted the four accused of the crime and awarded them the death penalty in September 2013, the Delhi HC confirmed it in 2014.Last year, the SC had stayed till further orders the execution of Vinay Sharma (21), Akshay Thakur (29), Mukesh (27) and Pawan Gupta (20). A few hearings have been held in the matter.In their appeals, the four men argued that the trial court judgment be set aside as there is no “substance or material piece of evidence“ and there are contradictions in the depositions of the woman and her friend who had accompanied her in the bus. The contradictions are present in their statements about the crime and the offenders. The convicts have also argued that the testimony of the sub-divisional magistrate cannot be relied on as it records that the woman was “comfortable, happy and willing to record her statement”. Delhi HC had awarded capital punishment while terming the offence “extremely fiendish” and “unparalleled in the history of criminal jurisprudence”. It had also said that if this case is not “the rarest of rare cases” then there is likely to be none. The prime accused, Ram Singh, was found dead in Tihar Jail in March last year and the trial against him was abated. The sixth accused, a juvenile, was on August 31, 2013, convicted and sentenced to a maximum of three years in a reformation home in 2013by the Juvenile Justice Board. =======http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Womens-rights-activists-agitated-over-film-on-rapists-04032015013035 Mar 04 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)Women's rights activists agitated over film on rapistsNew Delhi:TIMES NEWS NETWORKGender rights activists and legal experts have taken umbrage to the fact that Mukesh Singh’s interview in ‘India’s Daughter’ has compromised the Nirbhaya case, awaiting a final verdict.Activist and founder of All India Progressive Women’s Association Kavita Krishnan said, “Violation of the judicial process doesn’t help the rape victim’s case. I also find the ethics of launching a campaign on gender violence in India without holding a conversation with those involved in the Indian women’s movement problematic.” Activist lawyer Indira Jaising has sent a letter to NDTV highlighting how airing this film would amount to violation of Article 19 (2) of the Constitution, Section 153A of IPC and Section 2(c) of Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. “At present, the defendant’s appeal against conviction and death sentence is pending before the SC, therefore, airing the documentary would amount to gross contempt of Court,” reads the letter. The letter is also signed by other feminists like Devaki Jain, Kavita Srivastava and Kavita Krishnan. It goes on to state that the film “also reveals how foreign journalists and filmmakers are given permission to interrogate criminals in jails, which is illegal and encourages foreigners apart from Indians to voyeurism of this kind”. =========Banned Delhi Nirbhaya Documentary full BBC India's Daughter HDHere it is in full if you have the time to watch…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W6WrShqKGE&spfreload=10
