On 3 March, Delhi police obtained a restraining order that prevents the BBC documentary India's Daughter, which includes an interview with 16 December rapist Mukesh Singh, from being published or transmitted on air. The order states that "British filmmaker Leslee Udwin from BBC interviewed Mukesh Singh" and that Singh "made offensive and derogatory remarks against women creating an atmosphere of fear and tension with the possibility of public outcry and law and order situation".
As the debate over the documentary and whether the views of the rapist should be aired rages on, here are some things that have been said publicly about rape by prominent leaders and authority figures in India.
1. “The victim is as guilty as her rapists. … She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop.”
2. "Boys are boys, they make mistakes."
3. "Young people go drinking and it often leads to law and order problems. Our sisters and daughters are getting spoilt."
4. Choose between a “promiscuous culture” and a “safe environment".
5. "Rape is a social crime which depends on the man and the woman. It is sometimes right and sometimes wrong."
6. Women are “equally responsible” for crimes committed against them.
7. “Women should not venture out with men who are not relatives.”
8. “What is happening is we have imbibed the US. We have lost all the values we had in cities.”
9. Ninety per cent of rapes are "consensual".
10. “Where ‘Bharat’ becomes ‘India’ with the influence of western culture, these type of incidents happen.”
11. "We should stop our girls from wearing jeans."
– Ranvir Singh, Haryana Khap Panchayat leader
"We should pay more attention to where our girls are going. A mobile phone is like a disease. It should be banned. We should stop our girls from wearing jeans."
12. "Girls should be married at 16, so that they have their husbands for their sexual needs, and don't need to go elsewhere."
— Sube Singh Samain, Haryana Khap Panchayat leader
"If consensual sex with a 16-year-old is not rape, why can't girls be married at 16? I think that girls should be married at the age of 16, so that they have their husbands for their sexual needs, and don't need to go elsewhere. This way, rapes will not occur."
13. "Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts."
14. “Pretty women” who protest against rapes are “dented and painted”.
15. “Just because the country attained independence at midnight, is it proper for women moving at midnight?”
16. Rapes are on the rise because “men and women interact with each other more freely now".
17. If women dress provocatively, then “rapes are not in the control of the police".
18. "Male pigeons always chase female pigeons. It's an animal instinct."
– Kiran Bedi, BJP Leader and former IPS officer
"If you closely watch animals, I've seen a male bird exactly doing to a female bird what this man did. I've seen this happen. It's an animal instinct. Nature is one thing, nurturance is the other thing. This man never went through nurturance," Bedi tweeted, comparing Mukesh Singh to a pigeon and blaming his actions on animal instinct.
(Noticed male pigeons chasing females always) — do your pigeons do gang-rapes? #justasking http://t.co/b7DD1pmAQK…
Read more about India's Daughter here.