The Lok Sabha, led by its women MPs cutting across party lines, expressed their anger over an India-UK documentary film based on the December 16 Delhi gang-rape case which has footage from an interview with one of the convicts lodged in Tihar Jail.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, taking cognisance of the members’ concerns, said the documentary has ‘shamed’ not only the House, but the entire country.
Singh said permission to interview the convict was given on July 24, 2013. “I will get a probe done into how the permission was granted to interview the rapist, and if there is a provision allowing this, it needs to be reviewed,” he added.
The Home Minister said he has asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to look for ways to ban the film’s broadcast abroad.
The matter was raised by Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan who wanted a ban on broadcast of the documentary. She was vociferously supported by CPI(M)’s Sreemathi Teacher and BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi.
In a spirited intervention, BJP’s Kirron Kher, herself a performing artiste, said instead of the ban, the House should focus on ‘mindsets’. “The right to consent, the right over her body remains with a woman. No one has the right to blame her for such incidents and ask her not to carry mobiles or wear jeans. People wearing sarees are also being raped,” she said in an oblique reference to Khap panchayats, adding that there was need for gender–sensitisation programmes for children and village elders.
The film, called ‘India’s Daughter’ directed by Oscar winning director Leslee Udwin, according to BBC’s website, 'examines the values and mindsets of the rapists, and interviews the two lawyers who defended the men convicted of Nirbhaya rape and murder'.