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  • Oscars 2015
    Actress Meryl Streep presents the "In Memoriam" segment of the 87th Academy Awards in HollywoodReuters
  • Freida Pinto
    Actress Freida Pinto poses on the red carpet as she arrives for the screening of the film "Saint Laurent" in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 17, 2014.REUTERS/Yves Herman

BBC's documentary "India's Daughter", banned by the Indian government, premiered in New York and a star-studded screening of the documentary was held on Monday night.

Indian actress Freida Pinto and Academy Award winner Meryl Streep showed their support by attending the premiere on Monday night.

The screening was held at Baruch College in New York. It started with a candlelight vigil march honoring the 16 December, 2012 gang-rape victim.

About 650 people attended the vigil march, which was led by Meryl Streep, organisers of the event said, according to The Associated Press.

"Tonight we light these candles to honor the value and the work of Jyoti Singh's short, promising life," Streep said at the event, according to AP. "She was India's daughter. Tonight she's our daughter too."

The documentary, directed by BAFTA Award winning director Leslee Udwin, created controversies in India over the interview of one of the accused, who blamed the victim for the unfortunate incident.

The documentary was scheduled to air in India on International Women's Day, but following the uproar it was banned in India.

"This film in no way is propagating violence in order to solve the problem. In fact, what we're saying is let's do this in the most civilized possible way ever," Pinto told The Associated Press. 

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