Controversies around 'India's Daughter' is now taking new turns as more allegations are being slammed on British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, who interviewed Nirbhaya's rapist in Tihar Jail for her documentary.
Calling the documentary a weapon against India to demean its position in the world, the Indian government ordered legal action against Udwin and BBC, which aired the film in UK ahead of the scheduled date of 8 March.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier claimed at a Parliamentary session that the regulations to film the interview were violated. Udwin is said to have misled both the Ministry of Home Affairs and Tihar Jail authorities where Nirbhaya rape convict Mukesh Singh is imprisoned.
"Her sole intention, it seems, was to interview the Nirbhaya case convict — which she didn't reveal to the home ministry or Tihar authorities while seeking a nod. She filmed half-a-dozen convicts in Tihar but only Mukesh Singh's interview has made it to the documentary," The Economic Times quoted a home ministry official as saying.
Udwin had reportedly sought permission from Tihar Prison authorities to "interview convicts of cases related to atrocities against women" and interviewed half a dozen rapists inside the Tihar jail but included only Mukesh's interview in the documentary.
"All this shows that Udwin's intention to enter Tihar was solely to interview the Nirbhaya case convict as the documentary was on this particular case," home ministry official said. "We wanted to ask Udwin why interview of no other convict is there in the documentary," another senior official added.
Udwin has not only been accused of violating regulations and misleading the Indian officials, but has also been pulled up for interviewing Mukesh, when he was still facing trial for December 2012 gang rape and brutal assault on 23-year-old medical student.
Mukesh was under trail when interviewed
Mukesh's lawyer ML Sharma claimed that Udwin was granted permission to interview the convict on 7 October 2013, but the first part of the interview was taken a month before Udwin was sanctioned the papers. However, Udwin has always said that Mukesh was already convicted when she took the interview.
"When that lady came to interview me, she told me she had interviewed Mukesh in September before the verdict convicting him. She also interviewed him after that. At that time, in September I wasn't his lawyer but then I was reinstated. She also wanted to interview Pawan but I told him to refuse consent," Sharma told Hindustan Times.
To support his claims, he pointed out that during the first five few minutes of the interview Mukesh can be seen wearing casual clothes as he was still under trial. However, later he is seen wearing the prison uniform, which is mandatory after conviction.
In the interview that sparked controversy all over the nation, Udwin claimed to have tried to portray the mindset of a rapist and seek for reasons that lead them to commit such heinous crimes by centralising the focus on Nirbhaya's rapist Mukesh.
The revelations were quite shocking for the British filmmaker, as Mukesh said his victim was responsible for her death and the rape was a lesson so that she never goes out late at night again, which he believes is inappropriate for women.
While talking about her death in the interview, Mukesh had said they would have let her live had she not fought back and allowed them to rape her silently. He also believes that the death sentence will only encourage rapists to murder their victims so that a complaint is not filed against them.
