Actress Meryl Streep was among the celebrities who attended Monday's U.S. premiere of India's Daughter, a rape documentary that was banned in India.
"Tonight we light these candles to honour the value and the work of Jyoti Singh's short, promising life," Streep said in a vigil at Baruch College. "She was India's daughter. Tonight she's our daughter too."
The documentary details the events that took place in 2012 when a woman traveling with a male companion to New Delhi was gang-raped by six man on a bus. She was later tossed to street and died of her injuries. Four men were convicted of murder and rape and sentenced to death for the attack.
"Ultimately, this is a film that needs to go out," said Indian actress Ferida Pinto, who was among the 650 people who attended the event. "This is not a shame-India documentary."
The premiere follows a week of controversy in India over comments made by one of the rapist in the documentary, in which he blamed the woman for taking the bus at night.
"A decent girl won't roam around at 9 o'clock at night. ... Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes," he said.
The film was directed by Leslee Udwin.