Nirbhaya documentary not in country’s interest, says BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said the Nirbhaya documentary is not in the interest of the country and added that the government’s move in this regard is aimed at protecting and ensuring that the sensibilities of women in this country are paramount.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao, however, refused to comment on the Bar Council issuing notices to the defence lawyers for their remarks in the Nirbhaya documentary. “On the Nirbhaya documentary case, a few people and different associations may have a divergent views but the common running theme across all political parties and the sense of the House in Parliament was that this documentary which actually tries to eulogies the comments of rape convicted I think it’s seriously not in the interest of the country,” said Rao.

“And certainly women of this country, the girls of this country would certainly be emotionally affected by insensitive comments of this nature. I think whatever the government has done is certainly too protect and to ensure that the sensibilities of women in this country are paramount to the government and the country as a whole,” he added.

ML Sharma, the lawyer defending Nirbhaya rape case accused Mukesh Singh, earlier in the day denied receiving a showcause notice from the Bar Council of India to explain his comments made during an interview for the BBC for its controversial and banned documentary titled “India’s Daughter”.

“We have not got the notice from the Bar Council of India as yet. The court has placed a stay on the release of the documentary, and we have not committed any contempt of court, or can we be accused of misconduct,” he said.

Sharma further went on to say that those people, who had seen the documentary and spread the word about it, were in contempt of the court as there was a ban on the documentary. “They have violated the court order. I have only spoken for the safety and security of women. Ladies should be protected from society. Fighting for a female is not crime. I will fight for the rights of women. We should respect our courts. We are certainly going to take action,” he said

Earlier, the Bar Council of India had said that it had issued notices to two defence lawyers for their remarks in a documentary “India’s Daughter”, depicting the brutal gang-rape and murder of a paramedic student in Delhi in 2012, that has sparked massive outrage and condemnation.

In its notice, the council said that it had given lawyers ML Sharma and AK Singh three weeks’ time to explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them for their remarks.

In the film – banned in India and telecast by the BBC on Wednesday night, Sharma has, at one point, said that “there is no place for women in Indian culture. Both AK Singh and he made other outrageous comments too.

Sharma and Singh are representing four men, who are on death row for gang-raping and killing a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012. The woman came to be known as “Nirbhaya” or fearless, and became a symbol for India’s fight to check crimes against women.