NEW DELHI: India served legal notice on BBC on Thursday after the media group shared a controversial documentary with YouTube about the December 2012 gang-rape and murder of a woman in a bus as it drove through posh areas of Delhi.

Upset over the interview with convicts and lawyers, the government also got YouTube to remove the documentary as it is “very sensitive”.

Know more: Delhi gang rape convict blames victim: 'A decent girl won't roam around at night'

Women’s groups and parliament deputies were divided over the ban on the documentary, which has interviews with a death row convict and his lawyers.

The latter make remarks that it was the woman’s fault that she was raped. Had she not reacted violently to the assault and allowed the rape without resistance she would not be killed, a convict who drove the bus while his friends assaulted the woman says in the documentary.

In the notice, the government told the BBC that it had “violated” the agreement of not using the documentary for commercial purpose and for this the British media giant was liable for legal action.

“No necessary approval was taken by the BBC for the commercial use of the documentary. We have served the notice and waiting for their response. Further course of action is awaited,” a Home Ministry official was quoted as saying.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh also spoke to Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asking him to ensure that the video is removed from all social media sites.

BBC aired the documentary, containing the controversial interview of a convict in the December 16, 2012 gang-rape despite a Delhi court prohibiting it.

There was all round criticism of the government’s move to stop the screening of the film. “Decisions made in the wake of a popular outcry over emotive and sensitive issues will invariably be wrong,” The Hindu said in an editorial.

“The government’s action in getting a court order restraining the telecast of the documentary, India’s Daughter, by the British film-maker Leslee Udwin, is a knee-jerk response to the outrage voiced by sections of society against what they call giving undue publicity to a convict’s views.”

While the film-maker notes that she had a ‘no objection’ letter from the Home Ministry and obtained permission from the Tihar Jail authorities to interview the convict, the police have registered an FIR after it became known that the documentary is to be aired by a television news channel on March 8, coinciding with International Women’s Day.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play