- >>
- Youth
NEW DELHI: The kind of power that technology exercises upon our lifestyles is undeniable. Social Media has become a phenomenon. Sometimes it is a means for expression and sometimes it is a means to exploit expression. In any case, it is a powerful weapon. March'15 brought with it a sort of a trailer, of what all this weapon can do.
In the light of recent ban on the BBC documentary directed by Leslee Udwin about the December 16 Nirbhaya rape case in New Delhi, social media emerged as a powerful medium for the people to voice their opinions. Explaining why they do or do not support the documentary here are some posts that we came across:
Here is what Twitter helped us to understand why people supported the ban by the Indian Government on the BBC documentary:
The following comments were under the Youtube link of the BBC documentary before it was deleted from the web:
To substantiate that the BBC documentary was indeed a propaganda and not a social documentary made to aware people, we came across following posts :
There is a clear split. The ban sparked off an intense debate but the question remains if a final verdict can be reached. Deepanjana Pal, in what looks like a critical view of the documentary, said "Udwin's Delhi Gangrape documentary lacks perspective, has only shock value", published at firstpost.com examines, ” Chances are, if the Indian government hadn't threatened to sue BBC and there hadn't been a parliamentary debate filled with bluster, India's Daughter would have remained as obscure as most documentaries. Instead, all the controversy has made for fantastic publicity for what is an unremarkable documentary." She establishes that, " India's Daughter is inoffensive and bland, offering neither new perspective nor information, which is surprising since Udwin has been working on this film for a while. From the use of voice-overs, to the unimaginative cinematography, dreary pace and bland storytelling, everything about Udwin's documentary is staid and old-fashioned. However, that is no reason to ban India's, Daughter." She further says that, "...Udwin relies on shock value to keep her viewers interested....". Pal said that the most disturbing part of India's Daughter are the statements of two misogynist and offensive Defense lawyers, but again these should not be news to Indian people, since we are very well aware that this mindset exists in our society.
R.Jagannathan in his article "India's Daughter: We need to go beyond BBC's nauseating moralising", published in his blog, too calls the ban 'pointless'. He writes, " As Indians, we should certainly not fight shy of acknowledging our own failings as a society, much less ban such films. The restraint order by a Delhi court on the screening of the film, however valid legally, demonstrates the impotence of the Indian state, and its inability to uphold its own laws, despite legislating so many of them....The reason why the BBC documentary offends us is not its essential truth, but the ignominy of an outsider pointing it out to us....The outsider's critiques are always unpalatable." He says, "At another level, the documentary also illustrates the inability of the Indian state, and its ruling elite, to understand the workings of global power manipulators using money, media and the technology of power and influence to undermine us. The western world knows how to use India's own umpteen faultlines...."
In the case of India's Daughter, social media proved out to be a powerful source of expression. Everybody had a voice that they put to use. But while this debate on the documentary was still hot across the media, 5th march took it whole new level. From a medium of expression, social media took over the role of a medium that facilitated, what people called - "Vigilante justice". How critical a role social media played in the Dimapur lynching can be felt by the 48hours ban that the government had to force across Nagaland post incidence. Controversial Messages and videos were going viral that led a mob of 8,000-10,000 people, who had no leader, to gather and do what they did, without any strategy or a well-laid out plan.
Among the first reactions, there was also this one that blamed the BBC documentary for the Dimapur lynching. People -- though horrified by the lynching felt it was justified -- given the pent up frustration against the rapists and slow justice. But with investigation, new facts poured in and eventually the picture became clear. First it was anger against the rape, then it became the anger against the rape of a Naga woman by a Bangladeshi migrant, eventually the accused was traced to be a resident of Assam and the victim's medical report proved that there was no rape committed ever.
And quite contrary to what people posted on 5th march, favoring the vigilante justice, the tweets now sounded more confused, less aggressive with an introspective tone.
And quite contrary to what people posted on 5th march, favoring the vigilante justice, the tweets now sounded more confused, less aggressive with an introspective tone.
India is a multi-cultural , multi-lingual nation that our constitution and our judicial system acknowledges well. Technology is meant to make our lives easier and practicing discretion has never fallen out of fashion no matter how advance our gadgets might have become.
Next Story