BBC ignores ban, airs Delhi gangrape documentary in UK but no telecast in India

New Delhi: A controversial documentary ‘India's Daughter' based on the gang-rape of a young woman in Delhi was aired by the BBC in UK on Thursday.

The BBC has said that it has no plans to telecast the controversial documentary in India even though it went ahead and broadcast it in the UK, defying the ban imposed on by the Indian government.

In a communication to the Home Ministry, the BBC said that in compliance with the Government of India's directive, it would not telecast the documentary in India, official sources said. However, in the same communication, the British media giant said that it has broadcast the film in United Kingdom last night 10 PM (GMT). The Union Home Ministry had on Wednesday asked BBC not to broadcast the documentary anywhere.

Officials had said the Home Ministry is also planning legal action against British filmmaker Leslee Udwin for allegedly violating stipulated permission conditions. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that provisions for allowing such shoots inside jails would be reviewed.

A Delhi court had said the order restraining airing or broadcasting the interview of the convict Mukesh Singh, which was conducted inside the Tihar jail here, will continue till further orders. The documentary includes an interview conducted by Udwin and BBC, of Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus in which the 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gangraped by six men on December 16, 2012. Mukesh has made derogatory statements against women in the documentary.