Delhi court restrains broadcast of BBC's Nirbhaya documentary

The I&B Ministry has also issued an advisory to all television channels to not broadcast the documentary

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. The interview appears in 'India's Daughter', a BBC Storyville documentary.

The Delhi Police had earlier stated that it would move court for a restraining order against Singh's interview.

"Assertions have been made about the late victim of a ghastly crime which transgress the domain law: Indian Penal Code Section 504, Section 505 (1)(b) and Section 509, as well as Section 66(a) IT Act. Accordingly we have registered a case and we are going to investigate and we are also going to move the court to issue a restraint order about the publication and broadcast of such illegal inputs," Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi told the media.

Although nobody has been named in the FIR, Bassi maintained that the "main actor" is the person who has made these assertions and urged the media not to broadcast any assertion which transgresses the domain of law.

"This was a ghastly crime. One has to take into consideration that reporting of a crime does not transgress the domain of law and if that happens then the law will have to take its own course," he told reporters here.

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

As per reports, the government has also sought an explanation from Tihar jail authorities over how the convict was interviewed in the custody.

The Centre also said that it would act promptly and firmly against those officials and others responsible for giving permission to the BBC and a British filmmaker to go ahead with a controversial interview.

Giving this commitment amidst uproarious cross-party opposition protests in the Rajya Sabha before Question Hour today, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Muktar Abbas Naqvi gave an absolute assurance that the government would act. This did not satisfy the Opposition, and some members trooped into the Well of the House to disrupt proceedings. The House session was being chaired by its Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, who had to adjourn for 15-minutes at 11.22 a.m.

While speaking to BBC Four from his cell in an interview that appears in 'India's Daughter', a BBC Storyville documentary, Mukesh Singh said that a girl is 'far more responsible for rape' than a boy.

He said housework and housekeeping was the domain of girls and they had no rights to roam or visit discos and bars at night.

"They are doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes," he said, and added that only '20 percent' of the girls were good.

Singh added that executing him and the other convicts in the case will further endanger rape victims as now, when girls are raped, they will not leave the victim but will kill her.

He showed no remorse for the attack, which he referred to as an 'accident'.