Till now March has proved to be the month of turmoil. Leslee Udwin’s documentary on 2012 Delhi rape case in which an innocent girl lost her life due to the brutal torture brought upon her by six strangers has caused much uproar. Not just the subject matter of the documentary and the ban it faced in India but also some other chain events have forced us to question the position of women in Indian society and our democratic rights.
First Event: BBC releases rape documentary
Image Source : BBC/Assassin Films
In December 2012, a 23 year old girl, was gang raped inside a moving bus. The six rapists did not stop at raping her but took her entrails out by inserting a rod through her vagina. She lived 2 weeks after this incident, battling death and gave clear and concise description of the event. Leslee Udwin has recently made a documentary in which she has reconstructed the event through interviews of the victim’s parents, her teacher, the convicted perpetrator Mukesh Singh, and the two defense lawyers of the miscreants.
On the ground of breach of Indian Penal Code, the documentary, which was meant to be broadcast on NDTV and BBC Four, was banned in India.
Second Event: Blanket Ban on Documentary
Image Source : ZeeNews.India.Com
The Indian government tried to frighten BBC with dire consequences if it aired the India’s Daughter documentary. When Indians started watching the YouTube video and downloading it, the government issued notice and forced the virtual content sharing platform to take the video down. However, by then thousands of downloads were completed and many had watched the documentary.
Third Event: No respite, angry mob beat rape accused to death
Image Source : IndiaTimes.In
As if in a reaction to watching the rape convict’s shameless attempts at blaming the rape victim for rape in the documentary, an angry mob in Dimapur, Nagaland beat a rape suspect to death. The mob forced their way inside the jail and got the rape suspect out. After killing him, his body was strung up for all to see. While rape is a heinous crime and the rapist deserves severe punishment question remains as to whether public should deliver that punishment or not.
Fourth Event: Again, two men lynched over sex assault
The outrage of the mob in Dimapur and the killing of the rape accused was not the only incident that followed the ban of Leslee Udwin’s documentary. Another rape accused was beaten to death in Varanasi following the Holi revelries. If people actively take part in stopping crimes against women it is a boon, but innocents should not suffer the consequences of public rage.
Fifth Event: Aftermath, German professor rejects Indian male student on rape problem
Image Source : Telegraph.Co.Uk
An Indian male student was rejected by a German Professor, as he belongs to the country with a ‘rape problem.’ Later, the professor of biochemistry, Annette Beck-Sickinger apologized for her discriminating behavior. Still, this event has made Indian students frightened because after watching India’s Daughter foreigners may adapt a biased attitude towards them.
Is there an end to it?
Leslee Udwin has struck a match and no banning is going to prevent the fire from spreading. It will be unfortunate if consequences led to the death of innocents due to mob rage. Discrimination against students is another despicable crime, and crime cannot be an answer to crime. Hopefully, waves of awareness will spread and a more matured mindset will emerge out of this chaos.
