India’s Daughter 3-14-2015

14, March 2015                       India’s Daughter

Leslee Udwin’s documentary, ‘India’s Daughter’ chronicles the horrific gang-rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, in New Delhi on Dec. 16, 2012. It features interviews with the relatives of the victim and one of the men convicted of killing her; also included are the inflammatory views of the defendant’s lawyers. The unrepentant views of the killer who blamed the victim for venturing out in the evening with a male friend is symptomatic of unhealthy societal misogynistic attitudes towards women, a society that has always undervalued women. What was even more egregious was the outrageous comments of the one of killer’s lawyer who stated that women have no right to venture outdoors after sundown and would support dousing the woman in petrol and set her alight – “to maintain the family honor,” Clearly such lawyers should be disbarred and sent for remedial psychiatric care.  

The outrageous rantings of the defendant’s lawyers speaks volumes of the appalling bias against women – spinning gibberish to blame the victim.

Predictably, the documentary has generated passionate debate and the dubious reasons for the Indian government decision to ban it.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting claims the film will incite violence against women. The minister of parliamentary affairs makes the preposterous claim that it is “an international conspiracy to defame India.” What utter balderdash! How can India claim to be a democracy when it restricts free speech? Does our collective national pride triumph the welfare and safety of our women?

The deafening silence of Prime Minister Modi was another huge disappointment. He missed an important opportunity to show leadership. The prior Congress government displayed utter callousness and incompetence when this rape occurred.

Mr. Modi should have seized the moment and appealed to overturn the ban and called on all Indians to watch the film with an open mind and confront the issues it raises and demand a pledge from all men to respect women. He should have used his high profile position to further demand zero tolerance for such outrageous behavior.