SECTION 375 - A Rape Case In Bollywood - " we are in the business of law, not justice !"

Video Source: Amazon Prime

This movie is a Mumbai court room drama. It gives the impression of being a realistic story. [The movie can be considered educational because we learn about the police procedure for rape victims, the chain of custody and terms like 'in camera'  ! 

Instead of boring us with behind the scenes melodrama as some Bollywood movies do, the movie spends most of the time in the courtroom via the dialogue between the lawyers, judges and witnesses. It boldly handles the lax handling of the evidence by the police, the divergent views of the defense and the prosecution regarding the alleged crime and the authoritative voices of the judges in making judgments despite the mad protesting crowd in front of the courtroom that might threaten their well being. To make the story more interesting, the defense lawyer is fighting against his student as the prosecuting attorney.

Synopsis:

The story is about a young lower middle class girl who works as costume designer for  a young movie director.  It is clear from the beginning that the director is rather blunt and rude but his employees have to tolerate his behavior. The movie jumps right into the rape scenario within first few minutes when we are shown the director forcing himself on the girl first on the sofa and then dragging the victim to the bedroom !  The shy victim and her family report the crime to the police where she is grilled about the details of the rape. [We later learn that she was also beaten by her brother who is upset by the rape-that is not abnormal in the conservative Indian society !!]. As the case progresses we hear the defense lawyer philosophize about the practical aspects of law and the abstract concept of justice!! He also presents an alternate scenario where the rapist says that they were having an affair and the sex was consensual and corroborates this with details of their earlier meetings. However, the judges decline to release the rapist-director and he is sentenced to 10 years in prison!!

The movie ends when the victim makes the remark to her lawyer that the defense was right, it was not a rape but very close to it!! So one is left confused as to the validity of her story and her mental status at the end of the proceedings - it would have helped the story if the victim girl had been put on the stand a second time to confirm or deny the story propagated by the defense.