India's Daughter - Watch the film

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India’s Daughter, the BBC Nirbhaya documentary which has been widely acclaimed as one of the best documentary showcasing the rape and the aftermath of the 2012 December 16, act that shook the world and brought hundreds of thousands of women and men to the streets in India and abroad, was not given clearance from the Indian Censor Board to be released for viewing in India. Our Government’s objection was ignored by BBC and they uploaded the film on YouTube, which shortly was blocked out over the Indian skies. But lakhs of Indian had seen it already and a few more saw it on Vimeo. Friends and family living abroad, sent the film in mp4 version and we downloaded from Dropbox. A civil disobedience movement had begun on the internet space which would again take the shape of what happened in 2012 in Delhi.

Delhi, the capital of the country has a new title: Rape capital of India. And why not? Every 20 minutes there is a rape, disclosed or undisclosed in the city and its NCR area, covering Gurgaon, NOIDA and Faridabad.

Some philosophers have said, that it is the cumulative lack of social consciousness of this country which has caused this to happen.

Historically, India is enmeshed in the caste system and it is our tradition to keep the untouchables away from the mainstream of our society. This disparity has continued until today, when another split in our society which has been caused by globalization has created the divide between the rich and the poor to widen. If the untouchables of yesteryears have enormous anger towards the educated and the more privileged sections of our society, then it is not far from the hatred and anger that the poor have towards the rich.

We are a society living on the pretense of being humane, compassionate, loving and philanthropic. Indeed, the truth is, we are hoarders, anti-humane, non-compassionate and an utterly selfish country. All we think about is ourselves, our family and our near and dear ones.

Hence, not only among the Dalits, but the poorest of the poor in our society, the upper caste, class, is the one which is held with the most abhorrence. The unequal distribution of wealth and the divide between the haves and the have-nots have reached a critical mass.

There will be explosions and karmic holocaust throughout this country. Rape is not only a dastardly act of power, but as the film reiterates, it is an act of violence against women by men, who feel no remorse at all.

We must only blame ourselves for this. We have a history that goes down to many centuries which stops us from seeing our own faults.

How can anyone call India a safe country? It is not!


To read Ratna Kapur, Professor Jindal University, India Click Here