Banned documentary, India’s Daughter , made by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, which faced flak from the Indian government for giving airtime to one of the convicts in the Delhi gang-rape, snowballed into a bigger controversy on Thursday.

First, despite a ban on its telecast in India, BBC Four went ahead and aired it on Wednesday night in the UK, ahead of its scheduled premiere on March 8. Soon after, the documentary went viral on YouTube and other video sharing sites, with lakhs of viewer hits.

That the ban had backfired became clear since the wee hours on Thursday when frenetic Indian netizens streamed and shared links, airing their views on the film on social media sites. Writer Chetan Bhagat tweeted: “Forget ban, India’s Daughter is must watch. Anyone who watches will understand devastation caused by regressive attitudes. Face it. Fix it.” Writer Shobha De also tweeted, “ India’s Daughter banned? It should be compulsory viewing.” Actor Gul Panag wrote: “Shouldn’t we confront the evil, instead of wishing it away?

BBC Four said it premiered the film ahead of schedule “given the intense level of interest in the Storyville film, India’s Daughter .

Little too late

The Home Ministry and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology quickly swung into action and asked YouTube to take down links of the video. In compliance with the Court order, YouTube later blocked several URLs. However, at the time of writing, the film was still accessible on some sites.

A miffed Home Minister Rajnath Singh said BBC was asked not to release the documentary, adding that the government will probe and take appropriate action. Reports said the government had served legal notice to BBC for violating stipulated conditions.

In reply to an email query, a YouTube spokesperson said, “While we believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society, and that services like YouTube help people express themselves and share different points of view, we continue to remove content that is illegal or violates our community guidelines, once notified.”

With a debate still raging on whether bans serve any purpose, a tweet perhaps summed it up: “… Best way to guarantee it an audience is to ban it!”

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