Ban On "India's Daughter": Don't Shoot The Messenger

By siliconindia | Friday, 06 March 2015, 11:34 Hrs

"They could go to the U.S. and do an interview with a college rapist," a critic suggested citing research by the National Institute of Justice that one in five women students are raped during their college career.

"The most dangerous place for a woman is not the streets of Delhi, but U.S. college campuses," the critic concluded.

There is no denying the fact that street harassment of women is quite widespread in the U.S. too, and politicians have also made insensitive comments like Republican Todd Akin opposing abortions saying "legitimate rape" rarely causes pregnancy.

A suggestion that U.S. media and activists are trying to divert attention away from the U.S. situation by denouncing India as a society of violence towards women may well be true - but that's beside the point.

An AP story published by several U.S. dailies suggested the convicted "murderer and rapist's views" blaming the victim "were shocking in their callousness and lack of remorse. But the underlying view has wide acceptance in India".

Many in the Western media have of course sought to portray India's ban as a freedom of speech issue with some suggesting that it was a display of the "authoritarian streak" in India's new 'strongman leader' Narendra Modi.

But as The New York Times noted, Indians found "ways to watch the rape documentary despite ban" with the film spreading "throughout social media, gaining a wide audience despite a government ban and thwarting official efforts to block it".

One was against the ban on "India's Daughter" before one was for it - if it helps spread the message as it appears to be doing.

Source: IANS