Nirbhaya documentary: NDA Government hiding facts, says Rajiv Shukla

Accusing the incumbent NDA Government of hiding facts related to the BBC documentary on Nirbhaya rape convict Mukesh Singh, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla on Wednesday said the broadcast of the documentary should be banned to prevent the defamation of the nation.

He maintained that currently it was being made out that by and large the Indian male possessed a sick mentality, especially when it came to women. He also said that further serious actions needs to be thought of if the BBC and the British filmmaker went ahead with the broadcast.

"The broadcast should be banned if the whole nation is being defamed showing this is the mentality of all men in India. If they still try to show it then stricter action should be taken," Shukla said.

"We want the government to work sincerely on this matter, and then, we are with them. Our objection is that instead of investigating the matter seriously and stopping it from releasing, the government was trying to point out the orders to shoot the documentary was given in 2013 by the previous government, so that the blame can be put to them," he added.

"But in April 2014, the same government had stopped them from doing so as well. They were hiding that point. We had an objection on this, where they were trying to give 'political' colour to the whole matter," he added.

The Rajya Sabha, earlier in the day, witnessed huge uproar over the BBC interview of convict Mukesh Singh, prompting Home Minister Rajnath Singh to commit to a proper investigation of the same.

"The government has obtained a restraining order on broadcasting of film. The government has taken necessary legal action, our government condemns the incident of 2012," said Rajnath.

He added that he was surprised about the circumstances in which the orders to shoot the documentary were given.

A Delhi court has restrained the media from broadcasting or publishing the interview of Mukesh Singh, one of the convicts of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case, after the Delhi Police moved court for a restraining order against his interview.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has also issued an advisory to all television channels to not broadcast the documentary on Nirbhaya.