To Kill a Tiger

According to official estimates, a woman in India is raped every 20 minutes, and roughly 90% of those incidents go unreported, despite strengthened legal protections that have been put into place. Police investigations seldom achieve much, either, especially since residents in many communities (particularly in rural areas) prefer to handle such episodes among themselves without outside official intervention, a means to avoid bringing undue attention to such troubling circumstances and the attendant shame that accompanies them. However, in 2017 in eastern India, a courageous father whose 13-year-old daughter was brutally assaulted and subsequently beaten by three men chose to pursue the matter legally in court, despite opposition from village residents, who proposed that the young girl simply marry one of the rapists to dispense with the incident. Their inspiring journey in fighting back provides the basis for this Oscar-nominated documentary from writer-director Nisha Pahuja. It effectively chronicles their pursuit of justice despite these oppressive odds, including death threats and ongoing intimidation, as well as antagonism against the film crew in documenting this often-inflammatory tale. The film sensitively depicts how this experience personally affected father, daughter and the rest of their family as they held firm in their resolve to see their way through this painful ordeal. It also outlines the many uphill challenges they faced in combatting a convoluted, inept, excessively burdened bureaucracy and a range of archaic, widely sanctioned, misogynistic social conventions. Fortunately, they had ample support from organizations and individuals helping them to make their case, an effort that resulted in a landmark judicial decision with far-reaching implications that sent shockwaves throughout the country. The story is well told, despite a slight tendency to become somewhat redundant at times in the picture’s second half. That aside, though, “To Kill a Tiger” is a riveting yet disturbing release that shines an exceedingly bright light on a troubling issue, one that’s raised early on in the film in a news report sound bite about this incident in which the narrator rhetorically poses the question, “Is there something innately wrong with this country?” That’s a powerful observation about a potently alarming subject, one that’s raised to a new level of awareness by this formidable cinematic release, currently available for streaming on Netflix.

Ranjit and his wife left their thirteen year old daughter Kiran to celebrate the closing stages of a wedding ceremony in their home village and went home to bed. When he awoke later to find their front door still open, he was concerned for his missing daughter whom he meets on the lane outside, dishevelled and in tears. She claimed to have been raped by three lads from their village and upon taking her to hospital it would appear that there was no "claim" about it. He immediately informed the police and Kapil, Iswar and Lungru are promptly taken into custody and charged. So why do we need a two hour documentary? Well, what now ensues is a fascinating critique on an almost fuedal society that is far more concerned with reputational stains and their eradication than in the brute criminality of three of their number. Indeed, throughout this film, we see examples of the village hierarchy putting pressure of Ranjit to allow them to deal with this matter internally. Paraphrasing one of the elderly women; Kiran should just marry one of the rapists - she doesn't specify which - and settle down. She has, after all, lost all of her honour and no decent man would ever touch her now. It's actually her, and those like her, that made more of an impression on me here. That's not to excuse the patriarchal system for facilitating and condoning these ghastly and fairly widespread attacks on girls and women, but somehow the matriarchal element of this rural society seems to be almost as complicit. Now that might be because the old lady in this instance had no more control of her own marriage - or first sexual encounter - than did her own mother, grandmother etc., but the fact that there's is such a vociferous objection to due process being carried out against potential gang-rapists leaves you aghast. Fortunately, Ranjit and his daughter have some support from a team of people who offer assistance and security whilst the court case pends. Those are advisors adept at navigating what at times appears to be the most haphazard of judicial systems whilst also managing their expectations and helping them ensure that the one and only witness doesn't get cold feet and decide not to get involved. There is no courtroom drama here, this is a very human story of a search for justice in a community that is shocked by what happened, but that doesn't see the need to involve anyone else and that extols the virtues of what appears to be a very selective sort of forgiveness so as not to ruin these young men's lives. It's not that the framework isn't there to deal with these men, it's that there is an huge reluctance and societal stigma inhibiting engagement with it, and at times you sense that even Ranjit wonders if he is doing the right thing for the visibly upset Kiran - especially when he is allegedly threatened with death and the burning down of his home by the father of one of the accused. At times it is a frustratingly slow watch, but by the end I think that rather exemplified the whole process faced by the family as they awaited the results of a trial that was anything but a forgone conclusion. Did Ranjit kill the tiger? Well I'd say not, not yet, but by his efforts and by the subsequent judgement he has certainly succeeded in clipping it's tail. Until, however, hundreds of millions of middle and older-aged women in the vast nation that is India start to see such offences against their own sex as unacceptable, then it is hard to see how this particular beast will ever be slain.