India threatens BBC for airing #IndiasDaughter
Controversial documentary with interview of rapist sparks debate on media ethics.
After the early release of a BBC documentary that features an interview with one of the New Delhi gang rapists, many are debating the media ethics surrounding the film.
“India’s Daughter” tells the story of the 2012 gang rape of Jyoti Singh, a physiotherapy student who was attacked on a moving bus in New Delhi. She died from her injuries a few days later, leading many across the country to give her the name “Nirbhaya” or “fearless” as her case gained international attention. In the documentary, filmmaker Leslee Udwin interviews Mukesh Singh, one of the four men convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder. Singh says the 23-year-old student should not have been “roam(ing) around at 9 o’clock at night”.
Originally scheduled to air on March 8 to mark International Women’s Day, a court in India banned the film’s broadcast and called on the BBC to not show it online. BBC, however, aired the film outside of India Wednesday night. It has also been uploaded online by various people. On Thursday, India threatened to take action against the BBC.
Prior to Wednesday’s broadcast, Danny Cohen, director of BBC Television, responded to the court order in a letter to India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: