Netflix’s new, harrowing TV series ‘Delhi Crime’ will be a must-watch

Many will remember the truly disturbing news story that caused global outrage: the 2012 Delhi gang rape. Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was violently raped on a moving bus in Delhi. It was a horrific and fatal assault, she later died of her injuries.

Now, Delhi Crime, a new TV show on Netflix recounts the events surrounding the crime.

The tragedy and brutality of Jyoti’s death resulted in a moment of upheaval in India. Public protests against the state and central governments for failing to provide adequate security for women took place in New Delhi.

Since Indian law does not allow the press to publish a rape victim’s name, Singh was known as Nirbhaya, meaning “fearless”, and her life and death have come to symbolise women’s struggle to end the rape culture in India which otherwise blames the victim rather than the perpetrator.

Related: ‘I’ve been sexually assaulted four times. It’s not fine. It never was.’ 

The seven-part series recounts the real-life investigation by telling it through a police perspective. It delves into the emotional toll the crime took on the police to bring the perpetrators to justice and the life-altering effect it had on Singh’s family.

“The making of Delhi Crime has been a personally transformative journey; speaking to every individual involved, retracing the paths that the police took during the course of the investigation, and hearing of the determination that it took for the case to be closed, despite severe limitations,” writer and director Richie Mehta told Deadline.

“I hope that we’ve been able to provide context, catharsis and open once again a difficult conversation that must be had about the forces that enabled this brutality.”

Related: Six binge-worthy Netflix offerings out this month 

It won’t be an easy watch, but it will be an essential one as it recounts female prosecutors and their fight to have Singh’s attackers pay for their crime.

Watch the trailer below:

Delhi Crime will be available to watch from March 22