The BBC documentary India's Daughter tells the story of the gang rape and murder of a young college student in a moving bus in India's national capital in December 2012 and was slated to be broadcast on Sunday, International Women's Day. It has since been banned by the Indian government, as the documentary features an interview with Mukesh Singh, one of the imprisoned rapists, in which he shows no remorse for his crime.

The rape shook the nation's conscience, leading to protests in Delhi where over 10,000 took to the streets to express their anguish. There were similar protests and vigils across the country.

India's home minister Rajnath Singh, who came under attack from the opposition for allowing the culprits to be interviewed, had to seek judicial intervention to ban the film, as it would have not only damaged India's image abroad, but also created an emotive response from the people of India. Despite the court restraining the BBC from showing the film, the BBC aired it, anyway.

Mukesh Singh told the filmmaker Leslee Udwin, "A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy." He also says that "his victim would not have been killed, had she not resisted the rape."

Sexual violence has become one of the most discussed topics in India, and crimes against women are increasing in all Indian states. Indian courts are ill-equipped to provide timely justice to victims, as cases drag on for years. Shockingly, rape conviction rates have fallen from 44.28 percent in 1973 to 24.21 percent in 2012.

According to the BBC, "The film handles the issue responsibly and we are confident the programme fully complies with our editorial guidelines." India's Daughter is also due to be aired by broadcasters in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Canada.

The banning of the film has given it a lot of publicity, and it will be virtually impossible for the Indian government to enforce the ban effectively.

Udwin has complained to the Indian government that she was officially permitted to produce the documentary. According to her, "to presume that it will only strengthen the rapist's mind-set may derail any effort to create a sensitive record of what the country needs - a conscious transition from a culture of tolerance toward gender violence to a progressive socio-legal structure that combats the phenomenon."

The documentary should be seen as holding a mirror up to a society that is far from being sensitive to gender issues. Unfortunately, Udwin unwittingly gave a platform to the rapist to justify the rape.

While banning a sensitive film like India's Daughter is pointless, we need to address an important question about the right of freedom of expression: Is such a right absolute? The second question is why do Western films and TV producers show Asian countries in a poor light?

The Indian Constitution guarantees the right of freedom of expression, but a film of this nature sends the wrong message by giving undue publicity to a rapist.

It should not be allowed to be aired, especially in India, where women's safety has become a sensitive subject. The Indian government was justified in seeking to ban the film, as it would have given encouragement to criminals not only to commit rapes but also to silence the victims by taking their lives.

K.S.Venkatachalam, an independent journalist in India and a member of the academic council of Chanakya Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai