A rape documentary banned from airing in India received its U.S. premiere at a star-studded event on Monday that included actresses Meryl Streep and Freida Pinto.
The screening of India’s Daughter at Baruch College began with a vigil as the Oscar-winner Streep lit about a dozen candles honoring the medical student who died after being gang-raped on a bus in 2012. Organizers said about 650 people attended the event.
Streep said, “Tonight we light these candles to honor the value and the work of Jyoti Singh’s short, promising life. She was India’s daughter. Tonight she’s our daughter too.”
The woman was attacked when she and a male companion boarded a private bus in Delhi. The documentary details a brutal account of how six men beat her friend and then gang-raped her in the bus before tossing her onto the street. She was found naked on the side of the road and later died of her injuries. Four men were convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder.
