Quote

Along with three of the other attackers, Singh is now appealing against his death sentence. In 16 hours of interviews, Singh showed no remorse and kept expressing bewilderment that such a fuss was being made about this rape, when everyone was at it.

"A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy," he said.

"Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20% of girls are good."

People "had a right to teach them a lesson" he suggested - and he said the woman should have put up with it.

When being raped, she shouldn't fight back. She should just be silent and allow the rape. Then they'd have dropped her off after 'doing her', and only hit the boy," he said.

Chillingly, he went on: "The death penalty will make things even more dangerous for girls. Now when they rape, they won't leave the girl like we did. They will kill her. 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. Death."

I had the long and shocking list of injuries the young woman had sustained, read out to him. I tried, really hard, to search for a glimmer of regret. There was none.

It would be easier to process this heinous crime if the perpetrators were monsters, and just the rotten apples in the barrel, aberrant in nature. Perhaps then, those of us who believe that capital punishment serves a purpose, and I am not among them, could wring their hands in relief when they hang.

For me the truth couldn't be further from this - and perhaps their hanging will even mask the real problem, which is that these men are not the disease, they are the symptoms.

My encounter with Singh and four other rapists left me feeling like my soul had been dipped in tar, and there were no cleaning agents in the world that could remove the indelible stain.

One of the men I interviewed, Gaurav, had raped a five-year-old girl. I spent three hours filming his interview as he recounted in explicit detail how he had muffled her screams with his big hand.

He was sitting throughout the interview and had a half-smile playing on his lips throughout - his nervousness in the presence of a camera, perhaps. At one point I asked him to tell me how tall she was. He stood up, and with his eerie half-smile indicated a height around his knees.

When I asked him how he could cross the line from imagining what he wanted to do, to actually doing it - given her height, her eyes, her screams - he looked at me as though I was crazy for even asking the question and said: "She was beggar girl. Her life was of no value."

Quote


'Atmosphere of tension'

Rajnath Singh told parliament that his government would "not allow any venture that seeks to benefit from this [the Delhi rape] for commercial gain".

He said the film-makers were asked not to release or screen it until it was approved by the Indian authorities.

Police in Delhi said they had gained an injunction against the film because the rapist's remarks were "creating an atmosphere of fear and tension".

In addition, media organisations were apparently barred from publishing quotes from the film, or broadcasting any clips.

The film-makers have said any attempt to stop the film's broadcast would be a violation of the right to freedom of expression. They plan to challenge the ban in court.

Businesswoman Anu Agha, a member of the upper house, told parliament that "banning the documentary is not the answer".

"What the rapist said is the view of many men in India. Let us not pretend all is well," she said.

Javed Akhtar, a writer who is also a member of the upper house, said it was "good that this film was made [and that] it will reveal how many men think like [the] rapist".

Quote

Udwin told an NDTV studio discussion on Tuesday that the film "tries to show the disease is not the rapists, the disease is in society".

A BBC spokesperson said: "This harrowing documentary, made with the full support and co-operation of the victim's parents, provides a revealing insight into a horrific crime that sent shock waves around the world and led to protests across India demanding changes in attitudes towards women.

"The film handles the issue responsibly and we are confident the programme fully complies with our editorial guidelines.

"Assassin Films, the production company that made India's Daughter, has assured the BBC that it fully complied with the filming permissions granted by Tihar Jail."

Quote

How Indians have dodged the ban

The video has not only been uploaded to YouTube, but also to many other websites, making it even harder for the authorities to enforce a ban.

Screengrab of web page
One website openly addresses the issue, telling users: "We implore you to see it and decide for yourself how you feel about it. The government cannot take this decision for you."

The page, which has a YouTube version of the video embedded, was shared more than 40,000 times on Twitter and Facebook.

Although YouTube has successfully taken down a number of the uploads, including the ones that these sites pointed to, many thousands of Indians have already circumvented the ban.

Many have used the standard technology tool that circumvents country-specific bans: using a proxy server to disguise the location of their computers.

Others have also downloaded the film and shared with friends and family on USB sticks or CDs

Quote

Two kinds of foreigners descend on Kullu and Manli Valley every year: tourists who want to enjoy a trek across its beautiful landscape and relatives searching for those who never come back.

At least 30 foreign tourists have gone missing in the Manali and Dharamshala during last two decades.

Australian Daniel Mount Whitten, 23, and Japanese Kajuya Uaeno, 32, were reported missing on the same day, August 2 in 2005 in Manali and Mandi.

The serial disappearances are giving the tourist hotspots of Dharamshala, Kullu and Manali a bad name.

Lonely Planet, which publishes popular tourist guides, has dubbed Parvati Valley, where at least six foreign tourists have gone missing, the "valley of death".

Quote

Dhawan was alluding to a new means devised by 'ravers' to hold the parties 'legally' after they were banned following several such parties in Manali and Dharamsala earning them a sinister reputation. The organisers seek permission from the district administration under the pretext of organising music and dance programmes. The go-ahead comes with a warning to follow the Supreme Court guidelines on noise pollution and against collecting money and drug-use. But all the rules are flouted when the permission is granted.

Read more: [www.dailymail.co.uk]
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Quote



Mark Schaeffer
Somewhere on Planet Earth 6 days ago
Not Mark
This was something I had written about more than two years ago when I visited Bangalore (Bungaluru) in the South in 2012. A city I had wonderful memories of and experiences with as a teen...when it was mild in temperature, there were parks everywhere, and sidewalks were beautifully lined with fragrant flowering trees. Now there is congestion, pollution and a smog that makes it impossible to see the sky even in mid-afternoon. Most trees have been cut, parks have given way to malls and parking lots...and there are only short potted plants outside people's doors, which is, at times, dusted rather than watered.

I developed severe asthma like symptoms while there and went to see a doctor who told me that "childhood respiratory problems were the largest number of cases he was seeing." It was growing, it was disabling and it was killing kids who are either the only child, or one of two children, for their parents.

Whatever India makes in revenue, or GDP, is going to be spent on emerging acute or chronic health problems, growing mental health problems and escalating social problems. What prosperity is this country going to achieve?

My sister who spent a year in Delhi, working for a NGO (and there are many of them in Delhi), funded mostly by foreign organizations, is packing up and coming South (while keeping one leg in Germany where her husband lives).

It is not just affecting kids, it is affecting adults


Lynn C.
Jersey City 6 days ago
Though I consider myself well traveled and adventurous in spirit, I will admit to never ever having the slightest desire to visit India - despite my yoga-crazed friends' gushing assessments of the country (often while they were still at home flushing out whatever bug they brought home with them). I think they were trying to convince themselves that the vacation was worth it in spite of the hacking cough and nonstop diarrhea. But seriously, what kind of vacation is it if you then have to use sick days recovering from it? For me, visiting Little India in Singapore was enough. My host described it as "What India would be like if it were clean!"

Flag
7Recommend
Share this comment on FacebookShare this comment on Twitter




SitaKat
USA 6 days ago
Your questions are the essentia. "I just don’t get it. Are taxes collected? What happens to the taxes that are collected? Why aren’t they being spent on building clean, well-functioning, livable communities?"

Exactly the question I ask each year on a visit to Chennai. Nothing has gotten better in terms of fundamental community services in 25 years. Infrastructure does get built. But, garbage is not collected and is burned in the trash hoppers.

Water must be filtered as it always has been. And water is delivered by tankers like oil in New England.

And, this is true even in the "good areas." Only in the richest area is it "OK."

The 1% in India have accomplished what the 1% are working to accomplish in the USA. If they get their way, parts of the USA that were "third-world" decades ago -- a great deal of the East -- will become the norm for many more parts of the US.

Only if companies see no way to avoid having workers in the USA, will they support areas where these workers live and only to the degree needed to support their business.

Anything that isn't important to the bottom-line will be denounced by the political groups the 1% pay for as big government or even worse as "socialist." This so scares Americans that rational thought goes out of the window. "I don't want clean water if the EPA is involved." Say, what?

By rendering government impotent, our government will fail as it does in India, to do anything but focus on the military. (Corruption that pays very well

Quote

AA
Thousand Oaks, California 6 days ago
I am a 'Delhi Boy'.High school in the heart of the city and then Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. I left India in 1969 at the age of 25..I have just turned 70..have been visiting Delhi for the last 45 years..
The Delhi of old was a beautiful place..little traffic..fewer people and most of the middle class..were Government officers and their families. Civic sense was drilled into us as children..and streets were relatively clean.
Every year that I visit India I see the changes..especially the traffic and the pollution. For a while ..about 10 years ago..I felt the air quality was improving..the popular 3-wheeler auto rickshaw engines were being converted to natural gas and breathing seemed to be easier.
My visits over the last few years have been getting increasingly difficult from a medical standpoint. I have to go on antibiotics within a week as my lungs can not handle the pollution. I jokingly told our family doctor that maybe I should come visit him as soon as I land and get my dose of medicine...
What is sad is that the children are not being taught their basic civic duties..like not littering and picking up after. The poor and homeless will still live in whatever conditions they must to survive. Modi has promised public toilets and that is a beginning.One only wonders why the Government does not institute some traffic controls like in Singapore..drive into the city on alternate days.
I am not optimistic ...hope the next generation will have cleaner air.


Sils
Dallas 6 days ago
As others have noted, corruption and lack of civil society is a problem in India.
I was born in India and grew up in the West. I enjoyed my visits back to India but the lack of basic infrastructure, like a proper sewage system, garbage collection and having to pay bribes for basic services was quite the culture shock. During the 80’s, I accepted these unpleasant aspects of the trip because I understood India was a poor country.

When I returned in the 1990’s and 2000’s, the economy had liberalized and there was far more wealth among middle and upper class families. The economic growth of India was big news. Unfortunately, the same infrastructure problems remained.

I just don’t get it. Are taxes collected? What happens to the taxes that are collected? Why aren’t they being spent on building clean, well-functioning, livable communities?

The idea of tax collections to build roads, sewage systems, good public schools and hospitals etc. is one of the best things India could take from Western societies. This is a far better marker of a healthy, developed society than counting the number of billionaires. I would much rather breathe clean air than boast about how a once poor country now has a record 90 billionaires on the Forbes list.

Ironically, here in the US, we have the Republican Party opposing the highway bill. I think the world needs a second Enlightenment.

Quote

Osho Movement: Expressive Spirituality and Diaspora

Many expressive expatriates in Ibiza refer to the ‘Osho ashram’ in Pune(India) as a place where they have undergone dramatically transformativeexperiences. Pune is the wealthiest non-capital city of India (

Times of India

2004).With a population of two million people, it is located at the refreshing WesternGaths, some 150km west of Mumbai. Pune is known for its gentri?edneighborhoods, higher education institutions and booming software industry.In this context, the ‘Osho International Meditation Resort’

3

seeks to provide an up-market paradisical environment for those seeking self-transformation and spiritualgrowth.Meditation, therapy, music and celebration pervade daily life in the resort. Inthe newest air-conditioned pyramid, hundreds of maroon-robed practitioners(about 70% Westerners) practice one-hour ‘dynamic meditations’. With potentbackground music, each meditation session begins from stages of emotionalcatharsis, chaotic gibberish or free dance, moving toward more introspectivestages of silent stillness and relaxation. In addition, the resort’s ‘Multiversity’ offersa wide range of group workshops centering on creative and affective expression.In three-day ‘encounter groups’, therapists employ strong digital music as acatalyst for self-transformation. Notably, the predominant musical styles of techno, trance, ambient and New Age are played at speci?c moments duringthese meetings. Besides therapy and meditation, the administration alsopromotes weekly dance parties as part of its entertainment program. In thesedance parties, DJs play house music, exotic world-beats and, incidentally, a bit of trance. It is noteworthy that many therapists and directors oppose a tooemotionally derailing trance music, as they consider that many visitors areundergoing intense emotional therapies during the day.This journey of self-exploration often crystallises in the personal decision of ‘taking sannyas’, whereby one becomes a sannyasin. It comprises an initiatoryritual, with music and spontaneous performance, whereby participants make a‘commitment with meditation, and nothing else

. . .

to be free from oneself

. . .

andenjoy the mystery of existence’ (Osho sannyas discourse). The Sanskrit word‘sannyas’ means ‘renunciation’, which in the Brahmanic tradition implies in thepersonal rejection of all links to the mundane world. While despising Hinduismand religion in general, Osho sought to maintain the relativistic stanceof renunciation whereby his followers could foster their own ‘inner Buddhahood’.

Quote

unique Experiencesubmitted 9 months ago by digitalordead

During this time I was 21 and travelling around india on my own. I was on a 2 day train journey when some locals befriended me and offered me a piece of fruit to eat. I ate it, not knowing that it had been spiked with hallucinogenic drugs.

I didn't realise I was on anything; all I knew was that the walls were starting to melt and people started to turn into snakes.

I descended into psychosis and I was arrested for acting erratically. I was beaten up quite badly and, as it was a poor part of India, I was thrown into an old fashioned lunatic Asylum that was built during the 1800s during British rule.

I was thrown into a cell and the door was slammed shut. I wasn't given any food or water and I was left to die.

Due to a fortunate twist of fate I was rescued 4 days later.

I spent some time in a hospital recovering from the events. After a year off, I returned to university to complete my degree in economics.

It was during that year that I made a feature film about being spiked and entering psychosis. It is ultra low budget, and was made for £10. You can watch it here (excuse my shoddy acting!) www.digitalordead.com It does not tell the India story as we didn't have the resources; that is the focus of the next project.

With my filmmaking and my campaign work I've tried to make my message clear; mental illness can happen to anyone, it's nothing to be scared or ashamed of and in the right circumstances it can be overcome.

Evidence: [imgur.com]

Opening of the Film: [www.youtube.com]

Quote


[–]oldspice75 11 points 9 months ago

Quote

Who beat you up? Do you remember that?

What injuries did you sustain?

Do you think you were left alone with no food or drink for four days deliberately or as an oversight? And how were you rescued?

What kind of meditation were you seeking in India?

Quote


digetallord:

The meditation I was looking for was Vipassana meditation; buddhist meditation where you stay in silence for 10 days. It was really relaxing, if not a bit boring at times.

I can remember feeling incredibly happy and trusting after it...

and then 2 days later the incidents on the train happened...

Ahh thank you, I appreciate your support. These events happened in 2010, and I had a copy of Lonely Planet and during the first month of my travels I read it nearly every day. I was also very skeptical of locals and scared of being scammed and ironically at one point a strange man offered me some tea on the street and I can remember thinking 'no, it could be drugged'....

By the end of the second month in India, I felt much more at ease, and much more trusting of people.. In fact, I actually felt in many ways that I could pass of as a local (I'm half indian myself)... I think it was because I became so trusting and eager to fit in that I didn't suspect the people on the train and didn't think twice about sharing some food... So I definitely agree with you that it's important to be wary of people and the dangers that are there... and Lonely Planet is the best!