Date: 04/03/2015
Media Release
(New Delhi, March 4, 2015)
Open your eyes to reality, says LokSatta Party; condemns ban on Nirbhaya documentary
New Delhi: The LokSatta Party has condemned the Union information and broadcasting ministry's advisory to television news channels against broadcasting the BBC documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ based on the Delhi gang-rape incident of December 2012.
“Not showing the documentary fearing that it would bring shame on the country is unbecoming of a government that claims to work for better security for women,” LSP national spokesperson Jagadheeswaran Dhakshinamoorthy said.
In a clip from the documentary, Mukesh Singh, driver of the bus in which Nirbhaya was attacked and who is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail, blamed the young woman for the tragedy. “You can’t clap with one hand — it takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy,” he told BBC.
Sadly, this ghastly view is not very different from the opinion held by some politicians and self-styled godmen, Jagadheeswaran said. It stems from the sick attitude many Indian men grow up with, which encourages them to shamelessly strip women of their dignity and right to equality.
K. Tara, political secretary to LSP president Surendra Srivastava, said these are exactly the opinions we as a society need to hear "loudly and emphatically". "The narrative is so shameful and dehumanising that it must be heard by the entire country,” she said.
Echoing the sentiment, Jagadheeswaran said Leslee Udwin, director-producer of ‘India’s Daughter’, had done what the government should have. “Reading the mind of a rapist and understanding his psyche could help the government formulate a punishment that is far greater than the sense of entitlement his twisted mind holds," he said. "The interview is proof of how as a society we have failed to teach our boys how to ‘see’ women. It’s more shocking to see interviews of the lawyers who seem to uphold the views of the rapist as true.”
He added that political representatives who have been crying foul over the interview saying it “insulted” Nirbhaya and India had failed to understand that turning a blind eye to it will not make the country safer for women.
Maitreyi Nadapana senior party leader from Bengaluru said airing the documentary would open the eyes of thinking citizens and force the government to focus on core issues. “Why have we come to such a situation?" she said. "The process of justice is so long and arduous that there is no fear of the law in the perpetrators. Fast-track courts are anything but fast. The government needs to analyse why this is so."
Meanwhile, though the Rs1,000 crore fund earmarked for rape survivors under the Nirbhaya scheme remains unused, it got a boost of another Rs1,000 crore in this year’s Union Budget. “What is the use of these funds if women’s safety is still not given the attention it needs?” said Nadapana.
For details contact:
D Jagadheeswaran (0 979 1050 512)
Rajeev D Pai (0 976 9741 674)
National Spokespersons
For Loksatta Party
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