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Suchitra Bhattacharya’s Dahan follows a woman assaulted in public and the lone witness who intervenes as family pressure and a court case test them both.
After a public assault, early sympathy soon turns into whispers that the woman provoked it with her looks or clothes, or knew her attackers. Neighbours, police and colleagues end up questioning her conduct rather than the men's.
A respectable family treats a crime against one of its women as a stain on its name, so it pushes her to hide the episode or change her testimony. Even among the educated, protecting the family's reputation wins over her right to see her attackers punished.
Cases fail not only for lack of evidence but because the victim is worn down before she reaches court. Abuse and constant demands at home can turn a woman into a vague, evasive witness who will not name the men who attacked her.
A defence lawyer can turn the case around by attacking the morals and motives of the person who stepped in to help. The bystander who acted ends up in the dock instead of the attackers.
Public praise for a woman who took a stand can strain her ties with a traditional partner who is uneasy with her activism. The witness can lose her engagement as well as her peace. Seeing this, she may choose independence over a life built on compromise.
Wealthy offenders' families can use political ties, bribes and intimidation to choke a criminal case. Attackers with powerful backing go unpunished even when someone pushes hard for justice.
A public attack can happen in front of many onlookers while only one person steps in. A society that puts up with this and fails to protect or avenge the victim shows people numbed to others' pain and turned inward and selfish.
When other men suggest his wife invited the attack, a husband may feel his own standing is damaged and take revenge on her. His sympathy turns to resentment and ends in rape inside the home, which is rarely named as rape because society calls it a husband's right.
Behind both the street assault and the husband's revenge is the view that a woman belongs to men rather than being a person in her own right. Men then prove their manhood by sexually exploiting her, while she is expected to stay loyal and not trust herself.
The damage does not end with the assault. It happens again in the rescuer's ordeal, in suspicion from others, and in betrayal by the husband she trusted. Each new place she turns to for safety adds a fresh injury.