Bengaluru, Mar 15: British filmmaker Leslee Udwin who's controversial documentary India's daughter on the 2012 gang rape victim has been the subject of much talk in the country has claimed that the victim's friend Avanindra Pandey the sole witness to the gruesome incident asked for money to appear in the documentary.
The film which was banned by the Indian government, Udwin has called the ban " muzzling of free speech'' and that ''the government should hang its head in shame."
In a interview with The Asian Age, Leslee says that not a day passed while she was making the film when she did not question as to how a documentary can be made where the only living, surviving prosecution witness in this case is not in it.
She also says that Avanindra wanted money to give his interview and she refused point blank as she thought it was unconscionable and unacceptable.
On Avanindra's claims that he had no idea who Satendra, shown as the victim's tutor was, Udwin told The Asian Age "Well, that’s his problem, isn’t it. I mean... are you telling me Satendra doesn’t exist? I could give you his phone number, and you can phone him up and you can ask him. He was asked by the family in 2006, before Avanindra even knew the victim, he was asked to tutor her, he did. He tutored her. He became her friend, he became a very, very close family friend. And you asked in your written question, I believe, how did I meet Satendra. The family introduced me to him."
While Udwin refused to reveal how much money Avanindra asked for, she said that they were trying till the end to get his version of the events. They even told him that they had Mukesh Singh interview stating that Avanindra hid between the seats to try to get him to come out with his version of events.
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