Nibhaya rape convict interview in BBC irks India

New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday said that it would act promptly and firmly against those officials and others responsible for giving permission to the BBC and a British filmmaker to go ahead with a controversial interview with Nirbaya Rape case convict Mukesh Singh, and to subsequently allow its broadcast.

Giving this commitment amidst uproarious cross-party opposition protests in the Rajya Sabha before Question Hour today, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Muktar Abbas Naqvi gave an absolute assurance that the government would act. This did not satisfy the opposition, and some members trooped into the Well of the House to disrupt proceedings. The House session was being chaired by its Deputy Chairman P.J.Kurien, who had to adjourn for 15-minutes at 11.22 a.m.

Wednesday's disruption in the Uppaer House of Parliament came a day after the Delhi Police had registered an FIR in connection with a controversial interview of a convict in the December 16 gang-rape case, while also saying that it would move court to seek a restrain order its airing.

Although nobody has been named in the FIR, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi maintained that the "main actor" is the person who has made these assertions and urged the media not to broadcast any assertion which transgresses the domain of law.

"This was a ghastly crime. One has to take into consideration that reporting of a crime does not transgress the domain of law and if that happens then the law will have to take its own course," he told reporters here.

In the interview conducted by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin and the BBC, Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus in which the 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gang-raped by six men on December 16, 2012, said women who went out at night had only themselves to blame if they attracted the attention of gangs of male molesters.

"A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy," he had said. Singh also said that had the girl and her friend not tried to fight back, the gang would not have inflicted the savage beating, which led to her death later.

The FIR was registered under IPC sections 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) 505(1)(b) (With intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and section 66A of the IT Act (Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service) at the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.

Asked against whom the FIR has been registered, Bassi said, "We have registered an FIR on the basis of media reports and we will investigate and whosoever would will be found guilty we will take action against them."

Any assertion where the late victim is being maligned or where threat is being issued to women in general transgress the domain of law. We are going to move our court concerned for a restraint order, he added.

Udwin had claimed that she took permission from the then Director General of Tihar jail Vimla Mehra to interview Mukesh in prison for the BBC.

Asked about this claims, Bassi said, "I am not aware of any permission. Even if it was given, it was given to remain in the domain of law. If any act transgresses the domain of law and particularly IPC, I am duty bound to take action and we have registered a case."