“In our culture, there is no place for a woman.”

Some controversy in India over a new documentary:



India accused of ‘misguided’ ban on rape documentary

Quote:

The director of a controversial documentary about the fatal gang rape of a young woman in Delhi has branded a ban on the film being shown in India as “misguided”, accusing her critics of reacting “hysterically”. India’s Daughter, made by Leslee Udwin, triggered national debate in India with the government banning the film “across all media platforms” and attempting unsuccessfully to stop it being broadcast anywhere in the world. Udwin, facing a criminal charge of intent to breach the peace, left India last Wednesday, on the advice of her lawyers, fearing for her safety. The documentary – based on the brutal rape and murder in 2012 of medical student Jyoti Singh, 23 – will be shown simultaneously on channels in six countries, including BBC4, on Sunday as part of International Women’s Day.

Not only was the film banned, but the director is facing a charge of "intent to breach the peace".

Quote:

In the documentary, one of the convicted rapists, Mukesh Singh, who drove the bus as Jyoti Singh was raped, beaten and eviscerated, blamed her for the crime. “A decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night,” he said, showing no remorse. “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.” The two defence lawyers, ML Sharma and AK Singh, also make misogynistic comments. Sharma says: “In our culture, there is no place for a woman.” On Wednesday, the Indian parliament erupted over the issue of the documentary. Rajnam Singh, the home minister, who called for the ban, said he was “shocked” and “hurt”. A member of parliament, Ranjeet Ranjan, said the documentary was “humiliating for women” and criticised “the commercialisation of rape”. She was countered by Javed Akhtar, who welcomed the documentary, saying: “Scores of men in India have come to know that they think like a rapist.” Last Thursday in the north-east state of Nagaland in India, a man accused of rape was dragged from prison by a mob and beaten to death.

OK, that last bit about an accused rapist being killed by a mob is concerning, but it doesn't seem to have to do with the film. Here is a NY Times story about that. It appears to be more like an ethnically motivated lynching:

Accused Rapist Is Dragged From His Jail Cell in India and Killed

Quote:

NEW DELHI — A mob of thousands stormed a jail in the northeastern Indian city of Dimapur, seized a prisoner accused of rape, paraded him through the streets and beat him to death before they could be stopped by police gunfire, a police official said on Friday. The dead man, identified by the authorities as Syed Sirf Khan, was accused by locals of being an illegal migrant from Bangladesh and had been arrested on Feb. 24 on suspicion of raping a woman from a Naga tribal community the day before.

When the accused rapist is an outsider, that is when suddenly murderous mobs appear to avenge the tribe's honor.



More on the statements by the lawyers of the accused rapists:

http://ift.tt/1A3kTsE

Quote:

India’s bar council was meeting on Fridayto decide what action to take against two lawyers who made derogatory statements about women in the BBC documentary India’s Daughters. A women’s organisation has also lodged a police complaint demanding prosecution of the lawyers, who represent four men who are on death row after being convicted of the fatal gang-rape of a student in Delhi in 2012. India’s Daughters – a film about the gang-rape – has been banned in India, and police are separately pursuing an investigation against British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, who has left the country, and her Indian crew. The Indian government has remained defiant over its ban, despite a groundswell of acclaim for the film from prominent Indians who have watched it online. The misogynist statements by ML Sharma and AK Singh, the two defence lawyers, were broadcast on the NDTV channel before the film was banned. In the film, Sharma said there was no place for women in Indian society, while Singh declared that, as a Rajput (a member of a patrilineal clan), he would think nothing of burning his “unmarried daughter or sister … if they behaved improperly”.

So rape is justified because a "a decent girl wouldn't be out at 9 pm" and “a girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy.” Also, “In our culture, there is no place for a woman.” And he would think nothing of burning his unmarried sister or daughter if she "behaved improperly" whatever that means.



It appears that at least in some parts of India that women's rights still have a long way to go. Banning a film like this seems like exactly the wrong response.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1x6bS1O