http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8f6df354-c29e-11e4-a59c-00144feab7de.html#axzz3TU7SA7yt
Rape film dispute shines harsh light on Indian attitudes
©AP
N
ine months after India was rocked by the lethal gang rape of a young physiotherapist on a Delhi bus, popular Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin made a satirical video called “Rape: It’s your fault”.
In three-and-a-half minutes of very black humour, the actress mocked pervasive patriarchal attitudes — expressed openly by Indian public figures — that blamed urban women and their conduct for the rising violence against them.
Now New Delhi has gone into overdrive trying to prevent further broadcasts of a BBC documentary that exposes the chauvinistic mindset of one of the men convicted of the notorious 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder. In the film India’s Daughter , aired in the UK on Wednesday night, Mukesh Singh, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attack, expresses no remorse, and blames the young woman for her own fate, saying she should have neither been out at night nor resisted the assault.
“A girl is far more responsible for a rape than a boy,” the convict told Leslee Udwin, the British director, in a filmed interview in New Delhi’s Tihar jail. “A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night.” Calling her death an “accident,” Singh added, “when being raped, she should not fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape.”
Furious over the fresh spotlight being cast on the sensitive issue of India’s treatment of girls and women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has slammed the documentary — and its chilling jailhouse interview — as a conspiracy to malign the country and damage its international reputation.
New Delhi police have obtained a court order barring any Indian television channel from broadcasting either the film, or the interview with Mr Singh, whose appeal against his death sentence is pending before the Supreme Court. Delhi police have also filed preliminary criminal charges in connection with the film, though no arrests have been made so far.
India’s foreign ministry and information ministry have been asked to take steps to stop the broadcast of the film overseas. “An interview which will defame India internationally is totally unacceptable,” Venkiah Naidu, the urban affairs minster, said. Rajnath Singh, the home minister, called the convict’s comments “an affront to the dignity of women.”
Yet many see the BJP government’s efforts to suppress the film — and its disturbing comments — as misguided. They say the documentary offers an uncomfortable but necessary mirror to a society in need of self-reflection if it is to tackle the root causes of violence against women.
“The reality is that what the man said reflects the views of many, many Indians,” businesswoman Anu Agha, a member of parliament’s upper house, told her fellow lawmakers. “Banning this movie is not the answer. We have to confront the issue that men in India do not respect women. Let’s be aware of it, and let’s not pretend all is well.”
The BJP expressed dismay in the aftermath of the bus rape when Asaram Bapu, a high-profile Hindu “godman” closely tied to some BJP leaders, publicly blamed the victim for her fate, saying she had erred in fighting her attackers, and should have instead begged for mercy by addressing her assailants as “bhaiya”, or brother.
Lawyers for the accused rapists also stirred outrage, with one declaring that had his own sister or daughter “engaged in premarital activities and disgraced herself . . . I would most certainly take . . . [her] . . . to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.”
The brutal assault on board the Delhi bus — and the subsequent mass outpouring of young women’s anger at their own insecurity in public spaces — was also a severe trauma for the nation. It shook urban middle-class India’s image of itself as a wholesome, family-oriented society, where women are treated with respect and dignity.
The film delving into the case has undoubtedly hit a raw nerve. But Indians might like to consider whether the cause of improving women’s security would be better served by brushing the reality of entrenched male chauvinism under the carpet, or by confronting it.
amy.kazmin@ft.com
Rape film dispute shines harsh light on Indian attitudes
©AP
N
ine months after India was rocked by the lethal gang rape of a young physiotherapist on a Delhi bus, popular Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin made a satirical video called “Rape: It’s your fault”.
In three-and-a-half minutes of very black humour, the actress mocked pervasive patriarchal attitudes — expressed openly by Indian public figures — that blamed urban women and their conduct for the rising violence against them.
Now New Delhi has gone into overdrive trying to prevent further broadcasts of a BBC documentary that exposes the chauvinistic mindset of one of the men convicted of the notorious 2012 Delhi gang-rape and murder. In the film India’s Daughter , aired in the UK on Wednesday night, Mukesh Singh, who has been sentenced to death for his role in the attack, expresses no remorse, and blames the young woman for her own fate, saying she should have neither been out at night nor resisted the assault.
“A girl is far more responsible for a rape than a boy,” the convict told Leslee Udwin, the British director, in a filmed interview in New Delhi’s Tihar jail. “A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night.” Calling her death an “accident,” Singh added, “when being raped, she should not fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape.”
Furious over the fresh spotlight being cast on the sensitive issue of India’s treatment of girls and women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has slammed the documentary — and its chilling jailhouse interview — as a conspiracy to malign the country and damage its international reputation.
New Delhi police have obtained a court order barring any Indian television channel from broadcasting either the film, or the interview with Mr Singh, whose appeal against his death sentence is pending before the Supreme Court. Delhi police have also filed preliminary criminal charges in connection with the film, though no arrests have been made so far.
India’s foreign ministry and information ministry have been asked to take steps to stop the broadcast of the film overseas. “An interview which will defame India internationally is totally unacceptable,” Venkiah Naidu, the urban affairs minster, said. Rajnath Singh, the home minister, called the convict’s comments “an affront to the dignity of women.”
Yet many see the BJP government’s efforts to suppress the film — and its disturbing comments — as misguided. They say the documentary offers an uncomfortable but necessary mirror to a society in need of self-reflection if it is to tackle the root causes of violence against women.
“The reality is that what the man said reflects the views of many, many Indians,” businesswoman Anu Agha, a member of parliament’s upper house, told her fellow lawmakers. “Banning this movie is not the answer. We have to confront the issue that men in India do not respect women. Let’s be aware of it, and let’s not pretend all is well.”
The BJP expressed dismay in the aftermath of the bus rape when Asaram Bapu, a high-profile Hindu “godman” closely tied to some BJP leaders, publicly blamed the victim for her fate, saying she had erred in fighting her attackers, and should have instead begged for mercy by addressing her assailants as “bhaiya”, or brother.
Lawyers for the accused rapists also stirred outrage, with one declaring that had his own sister or daughter “engaged in premarital activities and disgraced herself . . . I would most certainly take . . . [her] . . . to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.”
The brutal assault on board the Delhi bus — and the subsequent mass outpouring of young women’s anger at their own insecurity in public spaces — was also a severe trauma for the nation. It shook urban middle-class India’s image of itself as a wholesome, family-oriented society, where women are treated with respect and dignity.
The film delving into the case has undoubtedly hit a raw nerve. But Indians might like to consider whether the cause of improving women’s security would be better served by brushing the reality of entrenched male chauvinism under the carpet, or by confronting it.
amy.kazmin@ft.com
