INDIA’S DAUGHTER, a TV documentary based on the rape and brutal murder of a 23-year-old in Delhi in 2012, sent shockwaves around the world when given its first airing last week.

Sikh educational charity Everythings 13 came together with Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall, the busiest Sikh Gurdwara in Europe, to put on a public viewing of the documentary, followed by guest speakers and an open Q&A session.

Speakers included political journalist and the author of India Dishonoured, Sunny Hundal, and female rights campaigner Rani Bilkhu, founder of the charity Jeena International, alongside Sharanjit Kaur and Jagraj Singh of Everythings 13.

Around 200 people, including men and women of all ages, attended the viewing and openly discussed the implications of the crime, its impact on Sikhs in Britain and highlighted the taboo of the subject.

It was the first time a Sikh Gurdwara has opened its doors to showcase such a sensitive subject and the frank discussions were considered a big success.

Journalist Sunny Hundal said: “It was nice to see a big audience turn up to watch India’s Daughter. Violence against women is very much a Sikh problem so it is good to see the issues discussed publicly in a Gurdwara”.

With over 1.4 million Indians in Britain, the cultural issues that stigmatise women and are taboo subjects within the community have crossed boundaries and become apparent in the UK too.

Jeena International, a UK-based female empowerment group, has found that women from Britain regularly travel to India for gender selective abortion, while anti-domestic violence group Southall Black Sisters says British-Asian women are twice as likely as white females to commit suicide in the UK.

Rani Bilkhu, Founder of Jeena International, says: “Tackling these issues needs to become a community agenda, so credit to Everythings 13 and the Southall Gurdwara committee for hosting such a night ”

Shown on the BBC and banned by the Indian authorities, the programme was one of the hottest stories, trending highest on twitter for more than two days in Britain and India.

The documentary caused controversy by showing the callous attitude towards women held by one of the six who raped Ms Singh, and how many men in India, including members of the Indian judicial system, held this attitude.

“These issues are not just in India, they are on our own doorstep here in the UK too. We cannot hide away from dealing with them,” said Sharanjit Kaur, of Everythings 13.