“This incident was a storm which came and went. And what was there before it, and what is left behind after it, this is what we need to see.” (Nirbhaya’s father)
This is the parting message that Leslee Udwin’s film ‘India’s Daughter’ closes with.
And this is what the film proposes to do. To see whether anything has changed after 16/12? Whether we learnt any lessons? And the answer is a BIG ‘NO’ as the film goes on to unfold.
It is not about why and how the film has been made; it’s about the ugly truths that it throws on us, or rather slaps on our faces that is more shocking. And the government is jittery, not only because the film would bring a bad name to India, but also because these ugly truths point towards the impotency and indifference of the powers that be.
In the film, one needs to closely watch the three men, interviewed in the film, – one accused and two defence lawyers.
What not only the accused Mukesh Singh, but also the two defence-lawyers have to say underlines the deep-rooted male-centric psyche of Indian society. One is shocked to watch the dare, the obduracy and the pertinacity with which these three men bring down the whole edifice of our social fabric!
Here is this hard-core criminal who has spent over two years in jail, has death sentence staring him in the face; who has witnessed his brother’s suicide inside the jail; and who knows what heinous crime he and his accomplices have committed, and yet who is so unperturbed; so unmoved, that he could relate the gory incidence in such graphic details with such defiant courage and energy, and with a glint in his eyes, as if he is narrating an action film to his friends. No regrets, no fear, no guilt, no remorse…!
The most brutal, cold-blooded savage of the group turns out to be the juvenile who took out Nirbhaya entrails with his hands! (And imagine! He is set to be out of jail in December 2015, after completing his term).
Here is a peep into their mind-set
Mukesh Singh:
“You can’t clap with one hand….A girl is far more responsible for a rape than a boy….only 20% girls are good.”
“Girls going out at night with boyfriends should be punished.”
“It was to teach them a lesson
“My brother had a right to explain to them; he asked the boy why he was out with a girl so late at night.”
“She shouldn’t have resisted.”
“The death penalty will make things more dangerous for girls.”
Now, are we hearing this for the first time? Isn’t this what Asa Ram Bapu had said? Isn’t this what the Khap Panchayats have been saying? And many political leaders, police officials and lawyers have been saying day in and day out?
Has anything changed?
The more brazen are the defence lawyers, who seem to have built their case not on the basis of evidence, but on their personal prejudices.
Here is the first lawyer in his broken English:
“You are talking about man and woman as friends, sorry that doesn’t have any place in our society.”
“A woman means, I immediately put sex in his eyes.”
“We have the best culture. In our culture there is no place for a woman.”
“In our society we never allow our girls to go out after 6.30 or 7.30 in the evening with an unknown person.”
” She should not be put on the street just like food….if you put her on the street, the dogs will definitely take her away” (Who are the ‘dogs’ here?)
Can we hope for any justice for Nirbhaya when people with such atrocious and horrendous attitude towards women are at the helms of things? Aren’t they making the accused more defiant!
And here is what the other defence lawyer has to say:
“If my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activities…I would most certainly take this sort of daughter or sister to my farm-house, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.”
“If necessary they should go out with their family members like uncle, father, mother, grandmother, grandfather”
Really, Mr. Defence lawyer! Are you sure that the girl will be safe with these people you have mentioned? Better go and watch a parallel programme – a panal discussion on this film with Leslee Udwin herself and others on NDTV, where, Vani Tripathi, while talking about incest, mentions a father who had raped his 14 years old daughter, saying with defiance,
“Mera hi toh lagaya hua pedh hai, iska phall main nahi chakhunga toh aur kaun chakhega!”
(I felt like pulling at my hair and crying loudly!)
And you are saying that she will be safe with them!
Who are we talking about? Whose daughter is she by the way? Where is she safe in this society – neither at home, nor at work place, nor on the streets? How is she ‘India’s Daughter’? When she is abandoned and abused? Violated everyday and remains unheard no matter how loudly she screams?
This is no country for women, and this is what the government of India is shying away from accepting. This is why there is so much of hullabaloo, as to why the film is made, who sanctioned it, who made it. Summons, bans, slapping of cases against the makers Come on, Mr. Home Minister! Your house is on fire and all you are doing is to search for the match-box! Watch the film, do some introspection, own up some responsibility, a little accountability and gear up to do some damage-control. The film has been made only with that objective. To make you see what you would rather not.
Narinder Jit Kaur is a retired Associate Professor from Patiala,who taught English Literature for 31 Years in various Government Colleges of Punjab. A writer and a translator, she has five books of translations, from Punjabi to English, to her credit Including Voices In The Back Courtyard(Rupa & Co.) -An Anthology Of Short-Stories By Punjabi Women Writers. She writes articles, poems and short-stories in English, Punjabi and Hindi. You can read more from her on narinderjit.com
What else u expect a convicted rapist n murderer and his defence lawyer would plea? Why everyone seem so surprised/shocked to see this convicted rapist n his lawyer saying It was girl’s fault, as if it is some shocking new insight?