Najma Heptullah slams UPA govt for allowing to make BBC documentary

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Najma Heptullah today slammed the previous UPA government for allowing to make the controversial BBC documentary on the 2012 Delhi gangrape incident, saying it did not check the parameters, script or nature of the documentary being made.

"When the previous government gave permission for the film, it should have checked what are the parameters, the script and what they were making. There should have been some control but it failed to do it," she told reporters here, strongly supporting Home Minister Rajnath Singh's stand on the issue.

"The action taken by the Home Minister I think is a strong step... whatever steps the government takes keeping various things in mind, it will be right," she said.

Filmmakers coming from outside, she contended, make films from their own perspectives. They do not present the films from the Indian context nor keep local issues in mind while making a film, she said.

"It is the question of the prestige of the nation and its sentiments. If we make a movie which is derogatory and controversial, would not they feel hurt. There is a protocol to care about each others sentiments," she said.

BBC, which has telecast the documentary earlier this week, has been served a legal notice by the government even as the Home Minister has ordered an investigation into how the permission was granted to interview rape accused Mukesh Sing, in July 2013 and also to fix the responsibility.

Home Ministry had also asked BBC, External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting Ministries and Department of Information Technology to ensure it is not broadcast anywhere.

Bar Council of India has in the meanwhile issued show cause notices to two lawyers who had appeared for the accused for allegedly making derogatory anti-women remarks.