British Indian Makes a film on Police Brutality, Caste oppression and Misogyny and Sexual violence in India. My advice to her:
Subject: hhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/26/santosh-film-blocked-india-police-brutality-cannes
An article by Hannah Ellis Petersen in the Guardian dated 26 March, talks about a film called Santosh which has been banned by the Indian Censor Board from being shown in India. The film directed by British born Indian Sandhya Suri is about Police brutality, discrimination against the Dalit community and misogyny and sexual violence in India. Santosh has received international acclaim for the film according to the Guardian. The film inspired Sandhya following the Nirbhaya case.
In the light of the film being blocked in India, Sadhana can perhaps turn her attention now to the UK. According to an article in none other than the Guardian dated 31 January 2025 an, “epidemic of violence against women and girls,” in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies. This was according to a highly critical report from Whitehall’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office report comes four years after a major government response to violence against women and girls (VAWG) was launched after the murders of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard. The watchdog found “disjointed” efforts meant VAWG was a “significant and growing problem” affecting one in 12 women in England and Wales and causing physical, mental, social and financial harm to survivors. While men and boys also suffer from many of these forms of abuse, they disproportionately affect women. A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK. Domestic abuse makes up 18% of all recorded crime in England and Wales. In the year ending March 2022, there were 194,683 sexual offences, of which 70,330 were rape.
The prevalence of sexual assaults (the proportion of the population to have suffered an assault each year) increased from 3.4% of the population each year to 4.3% in 2023-24 Police reports of rape and sexual assault increased from 34,000 to 123,000 over the same period, in part because of improved recording. The National Police Chiefs’ Council analysis reveals 2m women a year are estimated to be victims of male violence. The End Violence Against Women Coalition commissioned nationwide research that shows 47% of women and 40% of men reported declining trust in the police following the publication of details about the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens
Regarding Police brutality in the UK in 2023/2024 there were 24 deaths in Police custody. Of all the deaths since 1990 in police custody 16% were black, asian and other minorities. A much higher proportion than the population of these groups. In the last 20 years (2005-2024), there have been 164 deaths in or following police custody in England and Wales, according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
A film on the above terrifying stats would be timely.
Nitin Mehta
26 March 2025
Subject: hhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/26/santosh-film-blocked-india-police-brutality-cannes
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