Raping rape

There is much more to the heinous crime than meets the eye. A documentary screening today makes real-life rapists and victims speak up

Raping rape

There is much more to the heinous crime than meets the eye. A documentary screening today makes real-life rapists and victims speak up

There can be nothing worse than being stripped of self-respect. Rape, one of worst crimes in human history, is also one of the most misunderstood. The victim carries on ostracised and outcast, while the rapist remains stonehearted. The truth, as a result, stays swept under the carpet, as society makes survival almost impossible for both. In such a scenario, what goes on through the hunter and prey emotionally and physically are matters well beyond the ordinary observer's comprehension. In order to break the barrier of blindness that the media and police create between those involved and the outside world, Dr Lavlin Thadani recalls the historical Dhananjoy Chatterjee case in film.

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Way back in 2004, Dhananjoy raped and brutally murdered a 14-year-old girl in Kolkata. As a result, he suffered capital punishment. In Rape Compounded, the director delves into unexplored depths of the gruesome act. The 50-minute documentary also traces the trauma of a real-life sufferer who from hails from South-East Asia. The film asks some basic questions, and prods the society for answers.

"It is the society that's solely responsible for rape cases all around, and for the fact that the national capital is becoming extremely vulnerable to such inhuman indulgences," stresses Lavlin.

One of the most interesting aspects of her research is that each rapist has a starkly different story to tell. "Apart from one of them who was extremely regretful of what he did, the rest of them were shameless and even angry simply because they got convicted. What set them apart from the rest of us was the very visible dirt in their eyes. That was the sole testimony," she adds.

Apart from true incidents, first-person narrations, relatives' revelations and psychologists' and lawyers' interviews, politicos Sushma Swaraj, Renuka Chowdhury, Dr Girija Vyas and supercop Kiran Bedi come up with remarkable stories of courage. Unmissable, we say.

Rape Compounded
When: Today, 4 pm
Where: British Council Auditorium
The British Council Division
17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg
Ring: 26861016