There are few of us who had questioned the need for the documentary 'India's Daughter', and some even offended because it was BBC that aired it. Some feel that its a global/western conspiracy against India. Some thinks it will affect the image of India in global stage. Govt of India even went ahead and banned it. In my opinion, it was the Hon. Home Minister of India Shri. Rajnath Singh who gave the biggest publicity to this documentary. 'India's Daughter' wouldn’t have been watched so many had it not been banned. Someone should teach our HM that there is no such thing called bad publicity, by the way!
Coming back to the documentary and the victim, how many of us knew the victim's name? How many of us knew that Supreme Court hasn't yet heard a single hearing on the case since the appeal went to it? How many of us knew, the juvenile will be released in Dec this year? How many of us really cared of this case and followed the details? Frankly, I didn't. This case went to oblivion soon after the agitations came to an end. It took Leslee Udwin to open our eyes, and face up to this inconvenient truth.
We have known Jyoti in various names - Damini, Nirbhaya etc. The society and media had conveniently hidden her identity, sweeping everything under the rug and continued with our business as if nothing had happened. Many more girls continue to get raped, killed, set of fire since then. Honor killings sanctioned by Khap panchayats continue to happen ever since. Kids continue to get molested by predators - in their schools and at homes. Dalit girls continued to be stripped and paraded, raped and hanged. The fact is, even after Nirbhaya, we as a society never recognized that there is a real problem with us and we need to address it. How can we treat a disease if the patient do not recognize that he/she is sick?
The fact BBC had done the documentary and the Government is trying to gag it shows that our official machinery is still not ready to accept the fact that there is an issue that needs to be tackled. By simply turning a blind eye, we as a society are hoping that things will get fixed by itself. Are thinking that by shooting down the messenger, the problem will go away? It won’t. Some feel that this is all a western conspiracy to tarnish India’s image. Are we to understand that by banning the documentary, we have managed to create a good image world over, or India had a good image in this matter already? The whole world knows that India is a land of contradictions. India is a country where one man have a 60 floor mutli-million house that needs 600 persons for its upkeep, and it is the same country where 40% of its population living in slums - pretty much homeless. We send missions to the Moon and the Mars, and we also have kids who survive out of dumpsters. India is one of the most beautiful and diverse country (Incredible India!), but we also have travel advisories in most western countries for its citizens to be careful while travelling to India. These are undeniable facts. Unless we recognize these as real social issues, and not as western conspiracies and start tackling them head-on, we cannot be successful as a country.
The outcry from a section of our media also shows the insensitivity of Indian media and public towards such issues. Rather than trying to sweep everything under the rug, Government should come forward and take a leadership in producing such documentaries. Our Information & Broadcasting ministry regularly produce videos and documentaries praising the programs and policies of Government. They should also start producing socially relevant programs and documentaries such as ‘India’s Daughter’. Doordarshan & All India Radio should spearhead this effort. These must then be aired in mohalla sabhas, maha panchayats and so on. Awareness must be created. Sex education must be given in schools level to ensure that the next generation grows up with seeds of gender equality in their minds. Until and unless the general public changes its perception on women as objects to satisfy mens' desires, this problem is not going to go away. If we had done this by our own, we wouldn’t had the BBC documentary in the first place. I hope the media houses in India - all of whom that devote too much airtime into trivial and non-issues - will start putting some effort into programming and producing such programs as well. The documentary 'India's Daughter' is doing what the Government should have been doing.
Quoting Jyoti's father, Badri Singh "Jyoti has become a symbol. In death, she has lit such a torch not only in this country, but throughout the whole world. But at the same time, she has left a question. What is the meaning of a "woman"? How is she looked upon by the society today? I wish that whatever darkness there is in the world should be dispelled by this light (jyoti)".
