Heptullah slams UPA govt for granting permission to film BBC documentary

New Delhi, March 7

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah on Saturday slammed the previous UPA government for granting permission to film the controversial BBC documentary on the 2012 Delhi gangrape incident saying it did not check the parameters, script or nature of the documentary.

"When the previous government gave permission for the film, it should have checked what are the parameters, the script and what they were making. There should have been some control but it failed to do it," she told reporters, strongly supporting Home Minister Rajnath Singh's stand on the issue.

"The action taken by the Home Minister I think is a strong step... whatever steps the government takes keeping various things in mind, it will be right," she said.

Filmmakers coming from outside make films from their own perspective and do not present the films from the Indian context or keep local issues in mind while making a film, she said.

"It is a question of the prestige of the nation and its sentiments. If we make a movie that is derogatory and controversial, would not they feel hurt? There is a protocol to care about each others sentiments," she said.

BBC, which telecast the documentary earlier this week, has been served a legal notice by the government even as the Home Minister has ordered an investigation into how the permission was granted to interview rape convict Mukesh Singh in July 2013.

Home Ministry had also asked BBC, External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Ministries and Department of Information Technology to ensure the film is not broadcast anywhere.

Bar Council of India has, meanwhile, issued show cause notices to two lawyers who had appeared for the accused for allegedly making derogatory anti-women remarks. — PTI