Four Corners: April 5

Next Monday Four Corners screens the BBC report ‘India’s Daughter’ -the crime that divided a country.

It was a documentary two years in the making that told the story of the rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey, in Delhi. Now it’s been banned from broadcast in India by the national Government.

The question is why?

The answer becomes clear from the statistics. In India, it’s estimated that on average a woman is raped every twenty minutes. Many of these crimes go unreported. If they are reported, there is a good chance the woman herself will be blamed.

Two years ago though, the rape and murder of one young woman, 23-year-old medical student Jyoti Singh, created headlines and sent thousands of women and men onto the streets of the country’s major cities. Initially it seemed they were reacting to the nature of the brutal crime committed against Jyoti. But it quickly became clear that the protests were about far more than cruelty and the issue of police security for women in public places.

Protesters believed this crime symbolised the worst elements of a society that treated women as second class citizens. A society where infanticide, rape, violence and prejudice against women was built into its social fabric.

Now, British filmmaker Leslee Udwin has told the story of Jyoti Singh, her rape and murder and the reaction to the horrific crime. In making the documentary, she attempts to understand the forces at work in Indian society and to assess the possibility of real change.

Gaining remarkable access, she speaks with Jyoti’s family, one of the rapists, the criminal lawyers who defended the guilty men and the authors of the Verma Report, who were commissioned to inquire into the rape and killing and to recommend legal and judicial change.

In the wake of the inquiry, the Government seemed eager to begin the process of genuinely protecting women and openly discussing the issue of female inequality. What happened next was a shock.

The film was set to be broadcast around the world on International Women’s Day in March, including in India. Suddenly, the Indian Government banned the documentary being played anywhere in the country, claiming that it was an affront to women. The broadcast ban created yet another furore.

For those desperate to see a change in Indian society that will protect and promote the rights of women, this film is essential viewing and the next step in the process of self examination that India requires as it becomes a major world power.

Monday 6th April at 8.30pm on ABC.