Who is defaming India?

After banning the BBC documentary ‘India’s daughter,’ it has gone viral on the Internet streets. The Parliament deliberated a lot before banning it. If not the Constitution, the technology is enabling the freedom. Leslee Udwin of BBC exposed how Indian mindset, poverty, weak system of government, law and lawyers facilitate the crime of rape. The gang-rape and murder on December 16, 2012, changed the spectrum of the criminal law of rape, but not the mindset.

The Criminal
In an interview to BBC, Mukesh Singh said women who went out at night had only themselves to blame if they attracted the attention of gangs of male molesters. Without any remorse, he concluded: “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.” He also says rape victim should not have resisted; because she came out at late night, he gets a right to rape her.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the remarks “unspeakable.” In April 2014, a UN report said that violence against women was very critical of India for “systemic failures” in curbing sexual violence. In June, Ban Ki-moon said he “was especially appalled by the brutal rape and gruesome murder of two teenaged women in India.”

In 2012, a UNODC (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) study placed India at 85 out of 121 countries. While South Africa came in at the top of the list, the United States comes in at 16 and Brazil at 18. Even factoring in for the large number of unreported cases in India, the UN Women agency concluded in a different report that India stood 39th in greater rate of unreported cases, and coming in at 26th in unreported cases (8.5 per cent), behind the US.

The Criminal Lawyer
The lawyers of these criminals spoke worse than them. According to them, women are sweets in street and male dogs naturally eat them away. Living in jhuggies of Delhi with poverty, unemployment, inflation, systemic failures to check criminality made them commit the crime, the lawyers thus defended him cheaply. They should be equally guilty for exploiting inefficiency, corruption and loopholes in law to get criminals acquitted besides openly arguing that it is Indian culture that has put women in such place where men can rape because of their dress or late roaming in street or dating with a friend. Neither the state nor the civil society (including social media or vibrant, so-called, media) questioned him for defaming India. Another defence lawyer says he would burn his own sister alive, if she has an affair before marriage, in the presence of whole family members. He asked why 250 of Indian MPs with charges of serious crimes are not prosecuted on fast-track.

The Law
It is a crime to expose the name of a rape victim under section 228A of IPC. The BBC cannot be charged in India for that offence. English law does not define that as a crime. The parents of victim permitted Leslee Udwin to publish their daughter’s name. Brutal rape-cum-murder should be made an exception to section 228 A? Similarly, the name of juvenile who raped her should be exposed. If juvenile commits rape, he should be prosecuted as an adult, and his name should not be protected. The State proposes to prosecute all juveniles between 16 and 18 years as adults.

The System
In India, the convicted will be waiting on death row eternally. None can tell when it will be finally decided, when the President decides clemency petitions. A senior police officer in this interview tells that Delhi is safe. But official statistics show one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India and Delhi is the rape capital. It is ridiculous to say that India is not defamed by these official statements, but by ‘India’s daughter’!

None questions if a bus could go on moving in city without proper documents and licences. Why a school bus moves in the night crossing a spot twice within an hour? No RTA official checks it. Moving bus became safe place for gang-rape.

The criminal lawyers and corrupt system save the criminals. Even these criminals were not punished for their several earlier crimes. The incredible Indian legal system and unscrupulous lawyers offer all facilities to criminals and embolden them to commit more crimes. Rapist said that they disrobed victim so that she could not go out to complain. It is the age-old strategy of criminal lawyers to assassinate the character of victims of rape and husband’s cruelty. No law offers immunity to a criminal for raping a prostitute, no husband gets a right to be cruel against wife by casting doubt against her character. But lawyers raise that impression and unfortunately most of the judges are impressed by that doubt. ‘India’s Daughter’ exposes this mindset.

Is India defamed!
The Government of India felt that this documentary defamed the nation and thus chose to ban. Has ‘India’s Daughter’ made by the BBC defamed this great culture and wonderful system of this country? If really India is defamed who should be punished? Is banning the film a right consequence? Is it possible to enforce such a ban the world over? By the time the notification of ban reached the ‘defamers’, the documentary is all out for viewing. Newspapers world over have published reviews on the documentary. The people have right to see the documentary and freedom of expression to judge it.

India tolerates all these criminals and criminal lawyers. But in Dimapur of Nagaland, a mob dragged a rapist out of jail and lynched him on 5th March, 2015. If justice is doubted, mob will try to give instant justice. Who will change this mindset? Who will ban the ‘blaming’ of women and ‘banning’of truthful ‘expression’ like ‘India’s Daughter’? Are we protecting the reputation of India?

By: Madabhushi Sridhar