How many of you would have watched the much talked about documentary on the December 16 gang rape which was to be aired on March 8, Women’s Day ?
I would have liked the option of watching it. And thanks to the Information and Broadcasting ministry’s diktat on not airing the film on TV channels, I can’t.
So it offends us Indians to realise that we breed heinous rapists in this nation, is that it? Why else would the Delhi Police seek a ban on Leslee Udwin’s film where she lets the rapist, Mukesh Singh talk?
While we agree that Singh’s testimony was not something we enjoyed reading, it is a story that SHOULD be told.
Was the interview necessary? Perhaps not.
And was the ban necessary? Absolutely not.
We don’t live in a very nice world, do we? We are constantly on our guard, threatened and alert to the point of seeming neurotic. And it is okay to be so. It IS our reality. People like Mukesh Singh are just around the corner, be it inside homes or outside ‘late at night’.
Why are we so afraid to hear it from the horse’s mouth? Is it more viable to wear blinkers, and ban something that reveals this very issue?
From what I have gathered of this documentary, it does not glorify rape. While there is a lot of debate on how an international lens has focused onto the dirt lying in India’s belly, there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging our follies.