NDTV goes black

An Indian news network ran a blank screen for an hour in protest at a controversial government ban on airing a documentary about the savage gang-rape of a Delhi student.

NDTV broadcast a blank screen with only a flickering lamp in the background for an hour from 9pm to 10pm on Sunday, when it was due to have shown the documentary, "India's Daughter", to mark International Women's Day.

The channel has made no public comment about the ban, but its editorial director Sonia Singh tweeted ahead of the protest, "we won't shout but we will be heard".

India obtained a court order banning the film, which included an interview with one of the convicted rapists, Mukesh Singh, on Tuesday on the grounds it risked fuelling public anger.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said comments in which Singh blamed the 23-year-old victim and said she should not have been out at night were "highly derogatory and an affront to the dignity of women".

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To protest India's censorship of #IndiasDaughter, #NDTV goes black for an hour of prime time. http://t.co/rcgv9msXB3 pic.twitter.com/OAPz0RaOTj

— Evan Shapiro (@eshap) March 10, 2015

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