Indian protesters stage a mock hanging scene to demand the death sentence for the men found guilty of the fatal gang rape of the 23-year-old woman. Photo / AP
Indian protesters stage a mock hanging scene to demand the death sentence for the men found guilty of the fatal gang rape of the 23-year-old woman. Photo / AP
Police in New Delhi filed a complaint Tuesday (local time) to block the showing of an hour-long documentary film that includes controversial remarks by one of the assailants of the young woman who was fatally gang-raped in a moving bus in December 2012.
The rapist, who was interviewed in the prison by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, blamed the victim for going out late at night.
In an apparent boost for police, India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued an advisory against telecast of the film.
"A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night," Mukesh Singh, one of the rapists who drove the bus told Udwin in the film, "India's Daughter."
"A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes."
Singh's remarks, which were published in the media here, have shocked Indians and stirred a controversy about whether the film should be shown.
The documentary is scheduled to be aired on BBC on Sunday and NDTV 24x7, an Indian channel, one the same day, which is marked as women's day in India and many other countries.
British filmmaker Leslee Udwin addresses a press conference on her documentary India's Daughter. Photo / AP
The police complaint was registered under the Indian law against "outraging the modesty of women" and "intentional insult to provoke." Police said they will urge the court to block the broadcast.
"We urge the Indian media not to show it," B. S. Bassi, the city's police chief told reporters. Udwin called it a "foolish" move to stop the film.
"I feel as saddened today as I felt when I sat with those rapists," Udwin said, speaking to a group of reporters at a special screening in New Delhi on Tuesday.
"They are trying to silence the voices that are fighting for the rights of women. It is very ill-conceived. You are shooting yourself in the foot. Don't do it."
The film reconstructs the events of the night of the brutal attack in graphic detail through interviews with Singh, victim's parents, lawyers and doctor and shows dramatic footage of the unprecedented street protests that erupted.
Indian court sentenced four of the five men to death by hanging in September 2013. But one of the men hanged himself in prison after a few months.
The fifth, a juvenile offender, is in a rehabilitation home in the city.
In a panel discussion on NDTV 24x7, the victim's mother said: "A guilty man sitting in jail is challenging all the women today, he is saying, 'If you are out at 9 p.m., we will do this.' If in this barbaric case they are not hanged, our society will catch fire."
