Once in a while we endure an incident that makes us criticise, and perhaps even question our entrenched views. When a rare incident that makes us do so even though it may not affect us directly, we try to understand the facts and the deep rooted causes behind the plight and what it means for us individually and collectively. The recent band on the BBC documentary “India’s Daughter” which is is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman who was a physiotherapy student is such event that have shaken not only our inner souls but also the dignity of every women of this nation.
Indian Authorities had successfully managed to either block the video to Indian viewers or pull down the documentary uploaded on the BBC website and on YouTube, well under 12 hours of its release. After a long debate in parliament on the documentary, home minister announced that he would set an inquiry into how the film makers got the authorization to shot inside a jail.
The people who were able to watch it within that time, would have found it very difficult viewing. Believe me you have to be stout-hearted to watch this 59 minutes movie. The documentary shows the mass protests by young people, mostly women, that broke out in the days and weeks after the incident took place in Delhi. You can witness these people screaming for justice and the reward they get in return was: tear gas, water cannons and lathi charge. It's the first sign of what this week has uncomfortably made clear: This unfortunately brings out one thing very clear; our country's governing class is miserably tone-deaf. For, more than any other outcome, this episode is extremely shameful for India's politicians who feel that trying to suppress a documentary showcasing the vilest of Indian misogyny is more important than free and open debate, and efforts to change that mindset around.
What’s the point being the world's largest democracy when you are not able to provide security to your own women. There is a predominant audacious sexist attitudes towards women in India which can be best seen in the national sex ration, female foeticide killing, inadequate maternal malnutrition, nutrition status of girls, less opportunities for girls, girl child marriage, acid attacks on women, domestic violence and in thousands of other ways.
The documentary has been criticised a lot for its sole concentration on the Delhi gang rape case, in which a 23-year-old girl boarded a private bus along with a male companion, only to be attacked in the most horrifying way. This incident brought people together like never before. Perhaps it was due to the vertiginous brutality which came out of the incident, or perhaps because she was someone that all the other girls living in India could relate to.
However, the documentary "India's Daughter" should be praised for excavating deeper taking you to the dimmest rural India to show the dreadful poverty that most of the perpetrators belong to. It conferences police on how they succeeded to track down the suspects as swiftly as they did. And most importantly, it was shot inside Tihar Jail, capturing the all the convicted rapists and conversing with one at detailed. All of them were looking deceitful but completely normal, like a hundred other youth of India.
The statement made by the convicted rapist Mukesh Singh starts the reason for the ban - and the debate within India. He proclaims insolently that- a girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. He also added, "When being raped, she shouldn't fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they'd have dropped her off after doing her, and only hit the boy." His face showed no sign of regret for what he had done.
The sad reality of India is that despite having liberal attitudes, most of the people remains conservative and with deeply rooted views of women's place in society. Whatever they might say publically, to some extent many Indians do believe that women have the control to avoid rape, through their dress or behaviours. In this context, our politicians are leading the chart with these feudal attitudes. Some believe rapes take place also because of a woman's clothes, her behaviour and her presence at inappropriate places. Others say: Girls should not go out after dark, Women should not use mobile phones, Girls should be married early and so on. And last but not the least, our ever-pragmatic Finance Minister who said: "One small incident of rape in Delhi advertised world over is enough to cost us billions of dollars in terms of global tourism."
While our latest budget, doubled the allocation of the Nirbhaya fund to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 1,000 crore for the women's safety. The Nirbhaya fund, set up by the UPA government in the aftermath of the bus attack, has recently made more news for being alarmingly underutilised than for making any significant improvement to women's safety. It was assured to start 660 rape crisis centres -- one in each of the 640 districts and another 20 in the six metros has now been slashed to 36, just one for each state, as they see it as a ‘waste of money’. And there lies the most bitter fact that, as the memory of the attack fades, so too will the motivation to bring about the actual, real change.
And that's why it is important for all of us to watch "India's Daughter", to introspect and make efforts to eradicate gender bias. This documentary would keep the debate alive and inspire us to strive forward demanding a changes in attitudes towards women in India.
