Thursday, March 05, 2015

Indian Govt Foolishly Bans BBC Documentary on Delhi Rape

The Indian govt has foolishly banned a BBC documentary on the Delhi rape incident, bizarrely claiming that the documentary may create fear and tension, and even incite men to commit rape.





I doubt many Indians will feel proud after watching the ugly realities shown by this documentary.

However, I still feel the documentary does have its shortcomings. It makes no mention of the Sonia govt's decision to send the fragile victim on a strenuous plane trip to Singapore, when AIIMS was right there in Delhi. Nor was there mention of the govt's decision to have her clandestinely cremated in the middle of the night, just to keep protesters away. Police are shown beating up protesters, without any mention of the politicians who were ordering them to do so. Furthermore, the use of dramatic music to embellish certain scenes was an unnecessary artistic manipulation of events whose facts were already horrifyingly lurid enough on their own.

Still, it would be wrong of any Indians to react with nationalist indignation over the re-exposure of a case which should make us all hang our heads in shame.

11 comments:

non-carborundum said...

San / Oprah

I don't have time to watch this twaddle.

The only mistake in the govt banning this could be from a global PR perspective.

White trash has no business stealing away footage, treating India like a banana republic, and pontificating to us on women's rights.

We will solve our own problems, thank you very much.

san said...

Even if some of it is twaddle, it would be good for you to watch it. At least you get to see comments from one of the convicts laying bare what happened. We can't allow such crimes to occur and then refuse to face up to them. We have to stare our own problems in the face and meet them head-on. Ostrich-like mentality won't make things better. Modi himself went out of his way to mention these problems in his very first speech to the country on Independence Day.

If Indians want to give a fuller narrative, they should have come out with their own documentary, instead of merely trying to silence this one. The pretext on which this was done was very foolish.

vtpcnk said...

the uk is around 250,000 sq kms in size. its population is around 60 million. the indian state of Maharashtra is around 300,000 sq kms in size and has a population of around 110,000 million. number of rapes in Maharashtra in 2013 is around 3000. average number of rapes in uk every year is 85,000. and the british are making a film about rape in india?

Arvind said...

san, you are wrong about this. BBC supports censorship and has censored a lot of information related to rape and women's rights.

For example, they have cut out the fact that Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Prince Andrew are all rapists who have not been absolved by the courts.

For this act alone, this film deserved to be blocked. The Anglo-American rape culture which celebrates rapists like Clinton and Andrew needs to be dealt with.

This poisonous Anglo-American culture should not be allowed to justify the rape in Delhi and celebrate the rapist. Shame on them. We do not owe them the rights to use our air waves so that they can celebrate rape.

Unknown said...

Is there a mole in Rajeev's blog?

Harish said...

The problem with propaganda like this, it forces us to look at the problem of women issues in India through the eyes of a rapist and creates unnecessary animosity amongst different sections of society.. a documentary like this is only meant to tar the entire society needlessly and will only exacerbate the problem and not solve it... it is akin to interviewing prisoners from British prisons and projecting their views on the entire society.. the entire context is completely messed up and is only meant to needle India..we can and must address the issue of how we treat women in this country, but this is NO way..

vtpcnk said...

it is only an attempt to show india and indian culture in a bad light. the rapists did not do it out of lust - but rather to 'protect' indian culture. so documentaries like this seek to stifle all opposition to the party culture being spread in india. also so many women in the west learn yoga and so come to india for spiritual retreats. likewise many Japanese/Korean/Chinese women Buddhist pilgrims who come to india. propaganda like this will cut into this and tourism as well.

san said...

This crime was very severe in its depravity and savagery. It shocked the nation and justifiably sparked massive protests. The fact is that Indians must speak out against crimes like this, failing which we are guilty of turning a blind eye. Claiming that a documentary on rape is automatically celebrating the act is like claiming that a documentary on 26-11 is automatically celebrating terrorism.

By allowing the documentary to be banned, we are exposing ourselves to charges that we callously and superficially only care about our image over actual safety of women. When Dharma requires something, including self-scrutiny and internal correction, you don't worry about superficial things like image. We should prioritize the safety of the weaker half of our society first, rather than throwing them under a bus just to keep any superficial notion of honour intact (aka. 'Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil')

Harish said...

Here is another twist to the story..
https://www.saddahaq.com/human-interest/indiasdaughter/indias-daughter-is-fake-avanindra-pandey-rape-victims-friend-and-sole-witness

Arvind said...

san,

You say we should indulge in self-scrutiny and not care about image, but the entire premise of your post is what the world would think of India due to this ban.

As for self-scrutiny, it has already happened. We do not need the Brits to tell us anything about our society. They have never protested rapes in their society and have no right to pontificate to us.

BBC is a UK government propaganda organ and let them fix their problems.

san said...

Arvind, I was waiting for you to reverse my argument on me. But I think that we shouldn't be fearing a documentary. A documentary, howsoever slanted in its narrative, is not the same as shouting 'Fire' in the crowded theater. If this documentary is bannable, then what isn't bannable? It certainly doesn't give me great confidence in India's leadership, if they go scurrying for bans at the slightest trigger. What's next - State of Emergency over somebody's Twitter Tweet?