Silence speaks louder than words: NDTV's hour of protest against censorship of India's Daughter

The News Minute| March 8, 2015| 9.50 pm ISTIndia’s Daughter, the documentary based on the December 16 gang-rape in Delhi was supposed to be telecast simultaneously across many TV station in various countries on Sunday, March 8, which is also International Women’s Day.But ever since the details of the documentary, including the interview with one of the rapists was out, what followed was a high decibel protest lead by politicians and even journalists like Arnab Goswami.With voices against the documentary becoming louder and louder, the government took a stand against the documentary, secured a court injunction on the screening of the film across media platforms in India. The BBC advanced the screening to Wednesday night and the film was available on YouTube by the following morning across the world.In India, it was NDTV in partnership with BBC, which was supposed to telecast the documentary on March 8, 2015, from 9 to 10 pm.But with the injunction stopping the channel from telecasting the documentary during the time slot, NDTV instead chose to protest in a unique way. From 9 to 10 pm, the channel played a single graphic plate without music or voice over, it was just silence. NDTV called it their tribute to ‘India’s Daughter.’  Many on social media called it a powerful protest, the only one capable of silencing the high-decibel shouting against the telecast of the documentary..@ndtv With this silence you've reached many more eyes and ears than ban wanted smothered. Smart subtle brave. #IndiasDaughters @ndtvindia— Sankarshan Thakur (@SankarshanT) March 8, 2015Hats off, @ndtv - the most powerful protest! Sorta responding to Arnab's high-decibel shouting with stunning silence! pic.twitter.com/G3wt3mwWEd— Karthik Srinivasan (@beastoftraal) March 8, 2015Bravo #NDTV! The most eloquent protest agnst the suppression of free speech in India ever seen post-Emergency. Bravo! @ndtv #IndiasDaughter— Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) March 8, 2015Well done @ndtv : excellent silent protest #IndiasDaughter ban must be revoked.— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) March 8, 2015If silence is what the government wanted on the documentary, that's what they got. Be careful what you wish for. @ndtv #silentprotest— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) March 8, 2015Well done to @ndtv for protesting the ban imposed on #IndiasDaughter without resorting to noise & shrill voices. I hope the ban is lifted.— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) March 8, 2015NDTV's aesthetic protest almost equivalent to candles at Wagah.— Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) March 8, 2015Well done NDTV for protesting so meaningfully against the ban on India's Daughter: a blank hour to register censorship.— Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) March 8, 2015When silence speaks a thousand words !! @ndtv pic.twitter.com/ZKqKBtMxXn— Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) March 8, 2015Read- A male guest told this female TV host to shut up - big mistake Tweet