ADRIAN NARAYAN WRITES – On Nov. 16, “India’s Daughter” will air at 10 p.m. ET on PBS’ “Independent Lens.” This critically acclaimed documentary originally aired on March 8, 2015 in a number of countries, but was banned from Indian TV. British filmmaker Leslee Udwin’s film exposes the Dec. 2012 incident of a 23-year-old female medical student who was brutally gang-raped and murdered on a bus in New Dehli. This documentary has captured the attention of many activists, including feminist rights activists Jagmati Sangwan, Freida Pinto, and Meryl Streep.
Sangwan commented, “This is sadly symbolic of how our feudal mindset works. The government can punish the rapist but how do we treat the mindset? Unfortunately, our country is full of such archaic and crooked thinking. Lawmakers must suitably use the available legal provisions to bring an end to this malaise”.
It goes without saying that sexual violence exists in every country, and as many other states, India has yet to defuse its predominance of traditional androcentric mindsets. The Indian government must take a critical look at the state of sexual violence in India, including its persistent lack of attention to female-related violence. As Asia continues to grow as a major force in globalized markets, this century is going to be faced with the responsibility of confronting violence against women, and placing more women in positions of power to some urgency to solving the problem.