In India, ban on film about 2012 Delhi gang rape stirs debate

REPORTING FROM MUMBAI, India - The convicted rapist speaks of the crime in a voice that is cool, dispassionate - and terrifying.

"A decent girl" wouldn't have been out at 9 p.m., he says, and "a girl is far more responsible for a rape than a boy." But Mukesh Singh, one of four men sentenced to death for the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman, does not stop there.

"When being raped, she shouldn't fight back," Singh says in the upcoming BBC documentary about the case, "India's Daughter." "She should just be silent and allow the rape."

To many, the words were a sickening reminder of India's struggle with sexual violence, which gained worldwide attention with that incident on a private bus in New Delhi, the capital, in December 2012.

Indian women, however, did not need to be reminded. Despite a raft of new legislation and promises to crack down on perpetrators, new cases of abuse or harassment still surface in the national headlines seemingly every week, illustrating with dreadful clarity that Singh's views, however vile, are shared by many Indian men.

Although some free speech advocates lamented the Indian government's decision Wednesday to block the film from being broadcast here, many women's organizations supported the move.

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