One of the convicted rapists in the Delhi gang rape case of 2012 made a shocking statement Sunday when he blamed the victim of the widely reported sexual assault during an interview with a documentary film maker.
According to The Guardian, Leslee Udwin, the maker of the documentary “India’s Daughter” had interviewed convicted rapist Mukesh Singh for her short film when he made the controversial statement.
Mukesh was quoted as saying “You can’t clap with one hand – it takes two hands. A decent girl won’t roam around at night. A girl is more responsible for rape than a boy…”
Premiering on BBC4 on International Women’s Day, the documentary is about the short life and brutal rape of a 23-year-old woman whose tragic end lent impetus to women's rights activists in India.
The woman, a 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist, and a male friend were lured onto a bus by five men and a teenager in 2012. The woman was then repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar. Her injuries were so severe that she died two weeks later in a Singapore Hospital.
She became a symbol of the dangers women face in a country where a rape is reported on average every 21 minutes and acid attacks and cases of molestation are common.
Mukesh went on to call the incident an “accident” and said that if the two had not fought back, they would not have savagely beaten her – an act which led to her demise two weeks later.
“She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they would have dropped her off after assaulting her and only hit the boy.”
According to the rapist, the imposition of the death penalty will create an even more dangerous environment for women in India. “Before, they would rape and say, ‘Leave her, she won’t tell anyone.’ Now when they rape, especially the criminal types, they will just kill the girl.”
Mukesh Singh, the driver of the bus boarded by the deceased and her friend, denied involvement in the incident, although DNA evidence has been found against him. His brother, Ram Singh, hung himself in his prison cell just months after the case went to trial.
