Delhi Crime: A new drama tells the story of a rape investigation of a bus

Almost everyone in India remembers the rape by bus from Delhi – known as the Nirbhaya affair.

The horrific events of December 2012, when a member of the student community was gang-raped and raped while she was returning home after a movie night, were so shocking that ####################################################################> They left a collective scar on the psyche of an entire country.

So, when it was revealed that the brutal attack was to become a police drama for Netflix, many asked: Why?

For actress Shefali Shah, however, it has never been a question that this particular story be told. 19659007] "As a person – as a woman – yes, Nirbhaya was talking about the loss of light, the pain and the agony," she told the BBC.

"But when I read the script, I realized that there was another woman – not a man – who raised this problem, who fought it and won justice, she fought for all the women of this country. "

This other woman was Chhaya Sharma, then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of the South. Delhi and renamed Vartika Chaturvedi in the seven-episode series of director Richie Mehta entitled Delhi Crime. [1 9659007] She's the star of the series – but that's exactly what it should be, says Mehta. Without the Sharma DCP, he thinks, it could have been a different story.

"For me, all this is because if the woman DCP was not the first person to arrive at the hospital and did not receive A chance to see this victim and react in the way which she reacted, they probably would not have caught these guys, "he explains.

"It is her reaction as a human being, as a woman, who mobilized everyone to make this happen."

That night is engraved in the memory of Chhaya Sharma, but she does not know if there would have been a different result if she had not been the first high-ranking officer to arrive.

"I do not know, if a DCP had been dealing with a man, the case would have been different, I can not really say – it depends on the sensitivity of the agent, man or woman, "she told the BBC.

"But being a woman I think this has given some credence to the case.When it's a rape, it happened to me something – j & # I was moved to see the critical state in which the victim was. "

Indeed, the viewer is not spared on the truth. the young woman – who was brutally raped and badaulted with an iron instrument, causing appalling, even fatal, internal injuries. The description by a doctor of the damage inflicted by men is breathtaking in its horror.

Sharma says that Shah, who plays his alter ego DCP Chaturvedi in Delhi Crime, has perfectly captured his reactions: the need to distance himself and be professional. But beneath the surface, she felt a lot of things that people across the country would feel in the next few weeks.

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"If you can not protect the girl from someone else, how can you protect yours? I have not looked into it so Objective – I reacted with empathy.

"My first thought when I realized what had happened was disbelief. I thought no one could have done something like that. There are many rapes but the number of injuries is incredible. I just felt that I had to endure that. "

Sharma did not return home for three days: everything was focused on finding men who, she knew, could escape them.It is this investigation – and the team of Officers formed by Sharma – on which Delhi Crime focuses.

Yet, some of the criticisms issued by Indian newspapers before the publication of the series focused on the decision to focus on the police rather than the victim.

"The only people that the show humanizes are the police. All the other characters – protesters, families of the culprits, parents of the victim, media, politicians and civil society – launch synthetic dialogues that help them to fit in perfectly with the story of how the Delhi police fought a battle brave to catch the guilty and received very little praise. for that, "writes Piyasree Dasgupta in HuffPost India.

" And this is what the Delhi police actually did: a job for which she is paid. "

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In India, the general feeling of mistrust towards the police, particularly with regard to the reporting of badual offenses, was published in November, and in 2017, many victims who attempted to report badual badault were still humiliated by the police, who "frequently" refused to even register their complaints

Official statistics show how difficult it is to get a conviction, even if you go through the process. The BBC's Reality Check report indicated that only one-quarter of the cases that resulted in a conviction resulted in a conviction, but very few of them went that far.

The fact that this case was a success However, the police were one of the main reasons why Mehta – who spent years on the project, speaking to as many officers as possible – felt it was a story that deserved to be told.

"In this particular case, public anger was directed toward them." Why did this happen? You have failed us, you have let us down as individuals as an institution, "he explained.

" As I knew them, I wanted to look at that. For example, wait a second, in which case they did not let anyone down. They did everything they could – everything humanly possible to do it right. "

The viewer quickly realized how difficult it was to get through: having trouble getting a crime scene team on the scene, not having the right vehicles, not to mention the long hours and difficult colleagues

"It's not only that they do their job – in this show, you see the circumstances in which they work," says Shah.

"All of these guys are spending money in their pockets. And then, they are not appreciated for what they do. Some of the officers see their family once every two months. They work 24 hours a day in not very difficult circumstances. They do their best. "

Of course, there is always something that seems a bit unworthy of a case like this being turned into entertainment – Mehta even adm is that he was initially reluctant to create a drama series.

"Initially, I did not think it was appropriate – I did not think that someone should make a movie above, certainly not me, "he said, remembering the moment when it was suggested to him six years ago.

He changed his mind after reading the court verdict and meeting the people involved

But there is another reason to make this series.

"The interest in doing something like this is not just creative. You are dealing with such a sensitive topic that concerns us all, "noted Shah.

" Discussions are already taking place around something important. – and this will spark more conversations. "

Indeed, it is the hope of the parents of the victim, to whom Mehta spoke before the publication of the series.

" Their answer was that if something positive could result, this interpretation, so go ahead, "he said.

Delhi Crime is currently broadcast on Netflix