Indian government blocks film about 2012 New Delhi rape case

A magistrate's court in New Delhi upheld a police complaint Wednesday blocking the showing of an hour-long documentary film in India about a fatal gang rape in 2012.

The documentary, "India's Daughter," was set to air on the BBC, other international channels and the Indian cable news channel NDTV on Sunday, International Women's Day. But because of the intense interest in the film, and the Indian government's moves to quash it, the BBC moved up the premiere to Wednesday evening in Britain.

It will not appear in India as had been planned, and the government hopes to block it on the Web.

Filmmaker Leslee Udwin decried the Indian government's blackout of the film, calling it "foolish."

"I feel as saddened today as I felt when I sat with those rapists," Udwin said in a news conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. "They are trying to silence the voices that are fighting for the rights of women. It is very ill-conceived."

Written excerpts from the film released this week caused a storm of controversy because one of the assailants, Mukesh Singh, appeared to be blaming the victim for her death, even as he denied his role in the Dec. 16, 2012, attack.

Singh said in the interview that the victim and her male friend made a mistake by fighting back when they were attacked on a private bus as they were traveling home from a Delhi shopping mall. He said a "decent girl" would not have been out at 9 p.m.

"When being raped, she shouldn't fight back," Singh said in the film. "She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they'd have dropped her off after 'doing her' and only hit the boy."

According to court documents, Singh, four other men and a juvenile attacked the young couple after they boarded the bus, beating the man and taking turns raping the "helpless" woman. She died from her wounds at a hospital in Singapore several days later.

An Indian court sentenced four of the assailants to death by hanging in September 2013. One had earlier hanged himself in prison. The assailant who was a juvenile at the time of the rape is in a rehabilitation home.

"India's Daughter" tells the story of the horrific night and its aftermath through interviews with Singh, the victim's parents, lawyers and others. It also chronicles the street protests that followed, which riveted international attention on the problem of violence against women in India.