Delhi rape convict’s remarks ‘unspeakable’, says Ban’s spokesperson

United Nations, March 5

The remarks by one of the Delhi gangrape convict blaming the victim for the assault are “unspeakable”, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson has said, stressing the need for men to get involved in halting violence against women.

Ban’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric refused to further comment on the remarks made by 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.

“I’m not going to comment on the unspeakable comments that were made by the person accused of raping this girl, but I think the Secretary-General has spoken very clearly on the need to halt violence against women and on the need for men to get involved in halting violence against women and decrying it loud and clear every time it occurs,” Dujarric told reporters.

In an interview for a BBC documentary on the rape of the girl, Singh appeared unrepentant for the abhorrent crime.

Amid wide public outrage over Singh’s controversial remarks, the Indian government has banned the documentary on the 2012 gang rape ‘India’s Daughter’.

The government has secured a court injunction to stop the airing of the documentary across all media platforms in India.

When asked to comment on the Indian government’s decision to not air the documentary and freedom of the press, Dujarric refused to make any comments.

“I’m not going to get into it. Our position on freedom of the press is clear. Some countries have different rules regarding the viewing of evidence during judicial proceedings.

I’m not aware of the full details of it, so I’ll leave it at that,” he said yesterday.

The BBC has said that it has no plans to telecast the controversial documentary on December 16, 2012 gangrape incident 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 yesterday 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. — PTI