A farmer seeks justice for the gang rape of his 13-year-old daughter in To Kill a Tiger. One night in Jharkhand, India, a 13-year-old girl is raped by three men. However, when her rice farmer father Ranjit reported the incident to police, they instead suggested that his daughter just marry one of the rapists. Ranjit proceeds to take the rapists to trial to seek justice for his daughter.
To Kill a Tiger Synopsis
To Kill a Tiger is a documentary directed by Nisha Pahuja (The World Before Her) about a possibly game-changing sexual assault case in India. The focus of the documentary is Ranjit, the father of a 13-year-old girl whom three men gang-raped. Ranji refuses to accept the status quo, where victims of sexual assault are bullied into marrying their attackers, under the guise of salvaging dignity and upholding peace. With the help of gender rights activists, the rapists are put to trial, the result of which could set an important precedent.
My Thoughts on To Kill a Tiger
To Kill a Tiger is a film that tackles complicated subject matter. While sexual assault is already a harrowing topic for a documentary, To Kill a Tiger is much more impactful by the fact that it is set in a patriarchal country such as India, where 90% of sexual assaults go unreported. It is quite disgusting that the response in this country to a 13-year-old girl being gang-raped is to suggest that she marry one of the attackers because “they already had sex.”
Because of the film's subject matter, it is asked that the identity of the victim not be shared. However, the film does reach the point, where her testimony because the biggest factor in seeking justice for the sexual assault. However, To Kill a Tiger as a whole is very much the story of the victim's father Ranjit, who stands firm in his fight to seek justice, even though his family begins to receive threats throughout the trial.
While To Kill a Tiger is far from an easy film to watch, it is still an important one. By refusing to follow the status quo, Ranjit's actions have the possibility of changing how sexual assault is responded to in India. However, the statistic that 90% of such assaults go unreported, only makes such change a remote possibility.
Trailer for To Kill a Tiger
