Upset govt asks YouTube to take down BBC documentary

New Delhi: An upset government on Thursday said necessary action will be taken after BBC ignored its advice and broadcast the controversial interview of Delhi gangrape convict even as it asked video sharing website YouTube to remove the documentary as it is “very sensitive”. “Yes we had informed all channels that the documentary must not be released. But BBC has broadcast it in London. (Now) whatever action we have to take, the Home Ministry will go ahead and do that,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters here when referred to the airing of the programme last night. [caption id=“attachment_2138315” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Delhi gangrape convict Mukesh Singh in a screengrab from the documentary India’s Daughter.[/caption] “..We had requested BBC not to telecast the documentary but BBC said that it’s an independent organisation and will go ahead with the telecast,” he added. Asked what the government could do, Singh said, “I would not like to make any comment at this moment. All I can say is that whatever is required, will be done. If conditions have been violated, if they have been violated, there will be appropriate action.” To another query, the Minister said, “You keep watching, I have talked to the I&B ministry and have also written to the External Affairs Ministry. Proceedings are taking place.” Meanwhile, Communications and IT Ministry told Youtube that the issue is “very sensitive” and it should review its position on the matter, and remove it from the website. When contacted, a YouTube spokesperson said: “While we believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society and that services like YouTube help people express themselves and share different points of view, we continue to remove content that is illegal or violates our community guidelines, once notified.” It, however, did not confirm whether it has received a notification from the government, which is required to remove the content from its site. At the time of writing this story, the documentary was still available on YouTube and has gone viral with multiple shares. Meanwhile, the telecast evoked mixed response from political parties. BBC aired the documentary, containing the controversial interview of a convict in the 16 December, 2012 gangrape despite a Delhi court prohibiting it.. BBC today conveyed to the government that it has no plans to telecast the film in India in compliance with the directive. Asked as to who was to blame for allowing shooting of the documentary, the Home Minister said, “there has been no failure on the part of the government.” He maintained that the permission “was not given in our tenure.” Singh, who gave a detailed statement on the issue yesterday, said, “I have said this in the Parliament also that we’ll be removing all the provisions under which this permission has been given, so that a mistake like this doesn’t happen in the future.” He said, “If violation has been done, then the responsibility can surely be fixed to someone and if the responsibility is fixed the action will also happen.” The Home Minister’s statement came when asked whether the government was contemplating legal action against the British media giant for defying the ban. Officials had said that Home Ministry is also planning legal action against British filmmaker Leslee Udwin for allegedly violating stipulated permission conditions. The documentary includes an interview conducted by Udwin and BBC of Singh, the driver of the bus in which the 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally gangraped by six men on 16 December, 2012. Mukesh has made derogatory statements against women in the documentary. PTI