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Bus Driver in Delhi Gang Rape Blames Victim Man Convicted in Brutal Delhi Gang Rape Blames Victim
(about 7 hours later)
NEW DELHI — In the months after a young woman was brutalized and gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012, thousands of politicians, activists and ordinary citizens crowded onto India’s airwaves and into its public spaces to say their piece about the crime. NEW DELHI — In the months after the death of a young woman who was brutalized and gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012, thousands of politicians, activists and ordinary citizens crowded India’s airwaves and its public spaces to say their piece about the crime.
But there was no comment from the six slight, ordinary-looking men accused of her murder. Whisked in and out of the courtroom past shouting crowds of journalists, they listened impassively to testimony and offered monosyllabic answers on the stand. Courtroom guards said they hummed Bollywood tunes under their breath. Their opinions were anyone’s guess.But there was no comment from the six slight, ordinary-looking men accused of her murder. Whisked in and out of the courtroom past shouting crowds of journalists, they listened impassively to testimony and offered monosyllabic answers on the stand. Courtroom guards said they hummed Bollywood tunes under their breath. Their opinions were anyone’s guess.
Now, in his first in-depth interview, one of the men, Mukesh Singh, has told a British filmmaker that the young woman invited the rape because she was out too late at night. Now, in his first in-depth interview, one of the men on death row for the crime, Mukesh Singh, has told a British filmmaker that the young woman invited the rape because she was out too late at night and that she would have lived if she had submitted to the assault.
“You can’t clap with one hand,” said Mr. Singh, who drove the bus during the crime but denied taking part in the assault. “It takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 percent of girls are good.” “You can’t clap with one hand,” said Mr. Singh, who was convicted of rape and murder, though he denied taking part in the assault. “It takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boy and girl are not equal. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20 percent of girls are good.”
The woman, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, had been to see “Life of Pi” with a male friend, and they both boarded the private bus without realizing that the six men aboard had been driving the streets in search of a victim. After knocking her friend unconscious, they took her to the back of the bus and raped her, then damaged her internal organs with an iron rod. An hour later, they dumped the pair out on the road, bleeding and naked. She died two weeks later of her injuries. The comments, released as part of a publicity campaign for the film, called “India’s Daughter,” were met with outrage in India, in part over why the filmmaker, Leslee Udwin, was permitted to interview the defendant in jail.
B.S. Bassi, a Delhi Police spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday that the police would move to obtain a restraining order against the broadcast of the film. He said statements “have been made about the late victim of a ghastly crime which transgress” the law.
Officials said the video violated four statutes in India’s penal code, including one against “intent to cause alarm in the public” and another banning acts “intended to outrage the modesty of a woman.”
The home minister, Rajnath Singh, demanded an explanation from officials at Tihar Jail, where Mukesh Singh is incarcerated, as to why they had allowed the interview while the case was pending appeal. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory on Tuesday, telling news channels not to broadcast reports about the documentary. But at least one major news channel, NDTV, said it intended to show the film.
The woman, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, had been to see “Life of Pi” with a male friend, and they both boarded the private bus without realizing that the bus was off duty, and the six men aboard had been driving the streets in search of a victim. After knocking her friend unconscious, they took her to the back of the bus and raped her, then damaged her internal organs with an iron rod. An hour later, they dumped the pair on the roadside, bleeding and naked. The woman died two weeks later of her injuries.
In the interview, for a film that will air Sunday on the BBC, Mr. Singh said the woman had provoked the deadly assault by resisting the rape.In the interview, for a film that will air Sunday on the BBC, Mr. Singh said the woman had provoked the deadly assault by resisting the rape.
“When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back,” he told the filmmaker, Leslee Udwin, according to a transcript provided by the BBC. “She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they’d have dropped her off after ‘doing her,’ and only hit the boy.” “When being raped, she shouldn’t fight back,” he told the filmmaker, Ms. Udwin, according to a transcript provided by the BBC. “She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they’d have dropped her off after ‘doing her,’ and only hit the boy.”
In footage from the film, Mr. Singh tonelessly narrates the assault, saying that he heard her screaming for help but that his brother instructed him to keep driving as they “dragged her to the back” and “went turn by turn.” Afterward, he said, he saw the youngest of the assailants, who was 17 at the time of the crime, withdraw something from her body.In footage from the film, Mr. Singh tonelessly narrates the assault, saying that he heard her screaming for help but that his brother instructed him to keep driving as they “dragged her to the back” and “went turn by turn.” Afterward, he said, he saw the youngest of the assailants, who was 17 at the time of the crime, withdraw something from her body.
“It was her intestines,” Mr. Singh said. “He said, ‘She’s dead. Throw her out quickly.’ “It was her intestines,” Mr. Singh said. “He said, ‘She’s dead. Throw her out quickly.’ ”
He called the killing “an accident.”He called the killing “an accident.”
Ms. Udwin, at a news conference in New Delhi, said the film crew interviewed Mr. Singh for 16 hours and saw no sign of remorse. “He is almost like a robot,” she said. “I tried every trick to get a tear in his eye, but nothing. No tear.”Ms. Udwin, at a news conference in New Delhi, said the film crew interviewed Mr. Singh for 16 hours and saw no sign of remorse. “He is almost like a robot,” she said. “I tried every trick to get a tear in his eye, but nothing. No tear.”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday demanded an explanation from the Tihar Jail, where Mr. Singh is incarcerated, as to why they had allowed the interview while the case was pending trial. According to police records, the men divided the pair’s possessions: Mr. Singh took one cellphone, and Vinay Sharma, a 20-year-old gym instructor, took the other. Pawan Gupta took the man’s watch and 1,000 rupees cash, a little less than $20. Akshay Kumar Singh, a bus cleaner, took the woman’s rings. The juvenile was given a bank card and some cash.
The prison authorities in Tihar told The Indian Express, a daily newspaper, that they are in the process of filing a legal notice against the BBC for violating its agreement to submit the footage for approval. The filmmakers said that they submitted the footage, and that it was approved. Months before the trial, Mr. Singh’s brother, Ram Singh, hanged himself with his bedsheet in his prison cell. The juvenile defendant, whose identity was not been made public in accordance with Indian law, was sentenced to three years in a detention center the heaviest sentence possible in India’s juvenile justice system. The remaining four men pleaded not guilty; they are appealing their death sentences.
According to police records, the six men divided the pair’s possessions: Mr. Singh took one mobile phone, and Vinay Sharma, a 20-year-old gym instructor, took the other. Pawan Gupta took the man’s watch and 1,000 rupees cash, a little less than $20. Akshay Kumar Singh, a bus cleaner, took the woman’s rings. The juvenile was given a bank card and some cash from the spoil. Mr. Singh told the filmmaker that he believed the harsh sentences, instead of acting as a deterrent, would drive more rapists to kill their victims. “Now, when they rape, they won’t leave the girl like we did,” he said. “They will kill her. Before, they would rape and say, ‘Leave her alone. She won’t tell anyone.’ Now, when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl. Death.”
Mr. Singh’s brother, Ram Singh, hanged himself with his bedsheet in his prison cell months before the trial. The juvenile defendant, whose identity was never made public in accordance with Indian law, was sentenced to three years in a detention center — the heaviest sentence possible in India’s juvenile justice system. The remaining four men pleaded not guilty; they are appealing their death sentences.
Mr. Singh told the filmmaker that he believed the harsh sentences, instead of acting as a deterrent, would drive more rapists to kill their victims in the future. “Now, when they rape, they won’t leave the girl like we did,” he said. “They will kill her. Before, they would rape and say, ‘Leave her alone. She won’t tell anyone.’ Now, when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl. Death.”