Not only watched the documentary “India’s Daughter” but I also downloaded it from the source to see it repeatedly to understand many unsaid things. This documentary speaks volumes, focusing on the Nirbhaya case including interviews with the rapist, her parents, her some strange teacher, who was unknown to anyone in these years. He was speaking in such a way that he is reading a script without seeing it. Anyway, I don’t want to and wish to raise a question who this guy is, and why he was silent and suddenly appeared in this documentary. I think, something very important is really missing in this documentary, Awnindra Pandey. Awnindra Pandey, the only living witness and victim, friend of Jyoti who was with her that horrified night. His version is missing in whole documentary film, why?
Pandey is the one who is surviving carrying all pain and guilt of that night. He is the one fearless man who not only fought those odd men but also escorted the body of his friend when he himself was brutally injured. He is the only one who saved her life, when rapists wanted to run bus on her. I’m very curious to know why he was not interviewed, when a jailed rapist can be.
The Indian media have labeled the 23-year-old woman, Jyoti Pandey as ‘Nirbhaya,’ the fearless one. Some simply call her “India’s daughter,” an icon. Under Indian law, the identity of a rape victim must be kept secret. However, her father decided to release the name of India’s daughter — his daughter. He wanted the world to know her name. It was Jyoti Singh Pandey.
Awnindra Pandey is my friend and we share a good rapport. I called him to know about his reaction on the documentary. He was quiet and composed, but said “this is another documentary and another controversy will erupt with this, do you think anything is going to change hereafter? We all know, the mind set of this country. The documentary is not showing anything extraordinary, it has given a voice to the rapist to speak his mind that could be little different. I don’t understand how this documentary will change the mindset of people here? Jyoti’s fate has already touched the people around the world. That’s why; everyone came on the streets to protest against the brutality. However, nothing has changed yet.
That horrified night; Awnindra was brutally beaten up by rapists. He was also stripped, tortured and thrown out of running bus along with her. She died in a Singapore hospital 13 days later. He is alive and dying every day. He is right; he wanted to come out of that dark night memories but these controversies are making his life even more difficult day after day. He was approached by producer’s source but he denied speaking or participating in all sorts of TV debates or Media. Although, it was not the first time such a heinous crime had been committed in the country, Jyoti’s case made international headlines because of the sheer brutality and the groundswell of public ire that followed in its aftermath. To Awnindra, it’s an incident he will never be able to forget.
If we have to believe Mukesh, one of the rapists who gave interview, earlier that day, about 25 km away from Dwarka in a slum called Ravidas colony in South Delhi, Ram Singh, a school bus driver, and his younger brother Mukesh were planning to liven up their Sunday. Together with two friends who worked on and off as assistants on the bus – 17-year-old boy and 28-year-old Akshay Thakur – they began drinking in the evening. At around 8pm, Ram and his friends got into the bus and set off. “Let’s go and have some fun,’’ he reportedly told his friends. On the way they picked up two more friends – Pawan Gupta, 19, a fruit seller, and Vinay Sharma, 20, a cleaner and gym instructor – and headed off to the city. Spotting the couple, they stopped the bus and lured them in, saying it was headed to Dwarka, their destination.
However, once on the bus, the six men, four of whom pretended to be passengers, attacked Awnindra and Jyoti before dragging her to the rear of the bus and taking turns to rape her for more than 45 minutes. Eventually, the men snatched all the duo’s belongings, disrobed them, dragged Jyoti by her hair and threw them off the bus. While narrating this entire saga, rapist was calm and cheerful, he has no qualms. On the other hand, he was smartly convincing the viewers that he had not participated in the act but he was just driving the bus nonstop on the instructions of his elder brother Ramsingh, who later committed suicide in jail.
India’s Daughter, once again made headlines and grappled all attention but here question remains the same, what is going to change with this? Are men going to change their mindset? Will judiciary act swiftly by hanging the rapists? Will rapes stop? Will the respect of girls increase? Let’s assume that the documentary has exposed the mindset of Indian men, but what next? We are not aware of these mindsets earlier? Will the life of Jyoti’s parents change or they will ever get justice and one more thing, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’. Will Awnindra Pandey come out of those bad memories? Is it going to change something for him too? Or this documentary too will remain a TRP gimmick and diminish with time? It’s very clear that the horrific crime has changed Awnindra’s life forever. He is constantly haunted by the nightmare, he experienced in that bus. The horrified incidence in the bus keeps rotating in his mind. Brutality on her and death is killing her parent every moment. Nothing is going to change, unless the rapists are punished.
