India’s daughter- Is ban the ultimate solution?

The release of the BBC Documentary titled “India’s Daughter”, directed by Leslee Udwin of the United Kingdom has sparked a fresh debate in our nation. This 59 minutes documentary was made to get an insight of why men rape. It was supposed to release on March 8th; International Women’s Day but was released on March 5^th and was banned by I&B Ministry within two hours of its release.

Now the question here arises why was it banned even though Nirbhaya’s parents had given the consent for the documentary to be aired? The Indian Government wants to ban the viewing of this documentary because it believes that it is unnecessarily glorifying the rapists and is an attack on India. All this because a foreigner has again dug deep and shown the real plight of Indians. An outsider has unveiled the worst face of Incredible India and our government wants to cover all this up and suppress any further upheaval.

To this Javed Akhtar had rightly retorted,

“It is like saying that we should not show the after effects of the Tsunami or communal riots because that will glorify these disasters”.

They all blame Nirbhaya for what happened to her. It was her infidelity and improper behavior that caused this mishap. These people are disgusting examples of the majority of men in India who all feel that rape is women’s fault. they represent the ideologies that are embedded in the majority of the population regarding the gender specific norms for men and women. 

Even the so called educated lawyers, representing an elite profession have such narrow thinking and regressive mindset.

“Our culture is the best. It has no place for a woman.”

“If my daughter or sister goes out at night with an unrelated male friend, I will immolate her in front of my entire family.”

The ministry is keen towards banning the documentary instead of looking into the challenging social attitudes it reflects. We are just becoming regressive day by day, even after 2 years of this sinful crime not much has changed.

Women are not a commodity that can use the way men would like to but they should be given equal respect as bestowed upon men.

Is banning the ultimate solution to this problem? I don’t think so, as the problem lies deep into our sub-conscious, in our mentality and thinking. Instances of rape and sexual violence cannot be prevented or reduced overnight but immediate measures should be taken to curb it in future. so how does the government deal with issues which can tremble the accepted structures of patriarchy and gender based violence? By banning it!. Instead of banning documentaries, efforts should be put in changing the barbaric mindsets. This documentary has just portrayed a harsh reality of the current scenario of our society.