What truth are Indians talking about when they commit to the same drudgery that puts women through everyday life as it has been for centuries? How often do we see a responsible portrayal of incidents that happen to our many Nirbhayas? Some TV channels do not even have a basic sense of news portrayal of such heinous crimes, and the result is more often about devouring the victim than the perpetrator. So, if the BBC takes up a project to bring to light the conditions of women who have to suffer molestation, harassment, acid attacks and social stigmatisation, our government is content to play Big Brother and ban all such sources that aim to enlighten us (“ >After government bans film, Internet releases it ,” March 6). What next is it going to ban?
Anupama Athena,
Chandigarh
It is a known fact that The Hindu is a strong advocate of the abolition of the death penalty in India. Initially I supported the idea that capital punishment is a crude and primitive form of punishing someone. But after reading about the audacious and arrogant views of Mukesh Singh, I am of the opinion that even the death sentence is an inadequate punishment for the convict.
B.S. Jayaraman,
Coimbatore
Film-maker Leslee Udwin has held a mirror unto India in which I see the reflections of my family, my neighbourhood, my city and my country. The mirror shows me that my country can have laws strong enough to bring the perpetrators to justice. It also shows me there are people who can bring about change. I have learnt that the documentary does not show India in a negative light, nor does it declare India to be some sort of “rapists’ own country”. I would like to believe that the documentary is impartial in its perspective towards the incident.
Aritra Bhattacharyya,
Chinsurah, West Bengal
From what I understand about the documentary, though the gruesome incident has been analysed and looked at from the perspective of gender equality, security, emancipation and rights, I am sure that it treads these tenets in such a manner that it does not jeopardise the present social awakening, order and peace.
B.S. Selvakumar,
Vellore
The question now is whether we should lend an ear to convicts and then debate this as an issue of freedom of expression. The documentary is said to give space to defence lawyers who then go on to make sexist arguments, especially by bringing in the images of a “flower” and a “thorn”. The comments of these so-called “advocates of justice” are indeed most disturbing and show that efforts to bring about gender justice will be difficult. Rather than make this an academic discourse, much needs to be done to ensure justice for “India’s Daughter”. For this, airing the documentary is a necessity.
Anu Kuriakose,
Thiruvananthapuram
I can never understand the sentiments of a majority of the Indian public when they protest to stop the telecast of the documentary. How could it shame Nirbhaya? I believe its airing would open up options to curb the growing trend of violence against women in our cities. Does everyone believe the Delhi rape case was a singularity? A great amount of awareness on treating women with respect needs to be instilled in our society. We are proud of our culture but give very little space to women who seek education or employment. Women still struggle to preserve their individuality and it is still a fight, be it at home or outside to be independent.
Archana Manoj,
Bengaluru
