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Oscar-nommed doc: A 13-year-old and her dad demand justice after she is raped

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Oscar-nommed doc: A 13-year-old and her dad demand justice after she is raped

Content Warning: The following story references sexual assault of a teenager.

A scene from the Oscar-nominated documentary To Kill a Tiger, about the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl and how she and her father pursued justice even though many of the people in their village did not support their efforts — and even believed she should marry one of the rapists.

Notice Pictures/National Film Board of Canada and Notice Pictures Inc.


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“As her father, I deeply regret that I didn’t protect her.”

That’s Ranjit, a middle-age rice farmer from the Bero district of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. He is speaking of the gang rape of his 13-year-old daughter. Their story is the subject of director Nisha Pahuja’s film, To Kill a Tiger, which has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.

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Set in a scenic village, with lush rice fields and dusty lanes, replete with goats, Pahuja’s documentary transports viewers to the beauty of small-town India – and the heartaches and strife in Ranjit’s life.

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In the opening scene, a girl braids her hair, securing it with bright orange ribbons that look like a burst of golden flowers. She looks to be all of 13.

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The camera shifts to a middle-aged man, his face worn and tired. He’s seated beside lush green fields, and speaks of the love he has for his daughter, one of four children. “The amount of love I gave her, I wasn’t able to give any other child,” he says. In the film, Ranjit worries about the well-being of his other children but addressing the huge injustice done to his daughter takes up much of his time and emotional energy.

A crime, a connection

The incident happened on the night of Ranjit’s nephew’s wedding. The family had left the party earlier, and the daughter (the movie uses the pseudonym “Kiran” to protect her from online trolling) was supposed to return home shortly afterward. It wasn’t until 1.30 a.m. that an anxious Ranjit found his daughter stumbling home. She told her family she had been dragged away by three men and raped. One of them was Ranjit’s nephew.

The sexual assault was so violent that it caused considerable internal injury, says Ranjit. His daughter was traumatized, he says. For weeks, his once bright, chatty little girl seldom spoke.

It was shortly after this event, in May 2017, that documentary filmmaker Nisha Pahuja came into their lives. Born in Delhi, India, Pahuja moved to Canada in the 1970s with her family, but she’s spent over 25 years filming in India, a country which she calls “the greatest teacher of complexity.”

At the time, Pahuja was following the work done by The Center for Help and Social Justice and the Srijan Foundation, nonprofits that focused on empowering women and children in the villages of Jharkhand. She was interested in their ongoing project to create awareness among men and boys about the prejudices that they may hold to bolster the belief that women are inferior to men.

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Ranjit had been a part of this project. After his daughter’s assault, the Srijan Foundation began to work closely with him for justice.

Pahuja says she was struck by Ranjit’s actions after his daughter’s rape. As shown in the movie, many villagers insisted that his daughter should marry one of the rapists to keep the peace in the village. Ranjit refused — and filed a complaint with police.

Ranjit and his family’s courage and their fight drew her to the story, Pahuja says.

In a country where a woman is raped every 20 minutes, often survivors struggle to have their voices heard. “It’s very rare for a father to support his daughter this way,” says Pahuja.

Research and filming for the documentary spanned three-and-a-half years.

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A changed man, a determined daughter

Over the course of the film, Ranjit transforms from a simple farmer to a man determined to get justice for his daughter. “After what they’ve done, we have to fight back,” he says.

There were moments in the film when Ranjit wavers. He takes to drinking excessively, something he never used to do. He avoids the social workers who provide him with support and remind him about attending court hearings. He’s painfully aware of the poor harvest that season due to drought and the extra expense that the trial is costing him. He’s in debt, his family has been isolated by the experience and he and his wife are worried about their safety and the safety of their other children.

But it was the daughter’s insistence that the rapists be brought to justice that particularly impressed Pahuja.

“I was struck by Kiran’s spirit and strength,” she says. “She refused to back down and allow her parents to drop the case.” This especially hit home on the day of her testimony. “Before then, I was always anxious for her and the trauma that she’d experienced,” says Pahuja.

On the morning that the daughter was due to testify in court, while she was having breakfast, Pahuja says she asked her on camera, while she was having breakfast, how she was feeling — footage that wasn’t included in the documentary. She replied that she was nervous and scared. “However, when she walked into that courtroom, her posture and confidence were striking,” says Pahuja.

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Ranjit later told her that there were moments when his daughter cried when she spoke about what happened, but her voice was clear and for the most part, she was very composed. “It really amazed me,” says Pahuja. “She’s still a strong-willed tough young woman, very defiant. Both her parents had moments where they wondered whether they were doing the right thing but her determination was unwavering. I remember wondering, where does that resolve come from, especially in someone that young?”

A young woman’s bold decision

Because of the stigma involved, the identities of rape victims are never revealed in India. And while the documentary does not name the village where the daughter lives and uses a pseudonym to protect her privacy online, her face is shown throughout the film. That’s because the daughter, now 20, chose to reveal herself after watching the footage. At the end of the film, the filmmakers clarify “Kiran is one of a handful of survivors who chose to reveal their identity. She did so after watching her 13-year-old self in this film. Her parents fully support her decision. After consulting extensively with women’s rights activists, the filmmakers decided to reveal her.”

There are many moments in the documentary that show us the daughter’s quiet strength and spunky personality. She paints her fingernails bright pink, like 13-year-olds anywhere. Yet her experience has clearly changed her. In one scene she wonders, “I keep thinking whether I will fall in love or not. I think about that a lot. And if I do, how do I tell him what happened to me?”

At times during filming, Pahuja admits to feeling fear for herself and her crew. “I wouldn’t say we were entirely welcome, but the [villagers] weren’t hostile all the time. People would smile at us and invite us for tea. As the case wore on, and it was clear that the family wasn’t going to drop the charges, the tensions started to rise.”

More than anything, she says she felt remorse that she was part of the dismantling of community bonds. “I knew that attitudes had to change and they can’t suppress the truth, but I understand the value of community, especially in a culture like India,” she says. “The support that you get from it — economic, social, emotional — these are complex systems of survival. So I was very aware of the need for disrupting as well as sadness at the fact that we were disrupting it.”

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A landmark ruling

The judgment came in 2018 after a 14-month trial. Judge Diwakar Pandey who was overseeing the case, stunned the court and the general public with a landmark decision — he found the three men guilty and sentenced them each to 25 years in prison. They are now serving out the sentence but have filed an appeal in a higher court.

Conviction in rape cases in India has jumped from 27% in 2018 to 39% in 2020, per data from India’s Home Ministry. That’s largely because of the death of a young woman aboard a bus in Delhi, one of India’s most horrific cases of gang rape in 2012, after which laws changed. That year saw the introduction of the Protection of Children’s from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) — fast tracking trials when minors are victims of sexual assault. The case that the film centers on was tried under POCSO, which relies heavily on the testimony of the sexual assault survivor rather than focusing on the medical examination and eyewitness testimony, as is the practice in cases where adult women have been raped.

Perhaps this case would have a ripple effect in courtrooms across the nation, reporters surmise in the documentary. Local activists say the case has helped other women speak up and seek justice too.

“In India, there are tough laws against rape, but there are also many barriers to getting justice,” says S Mona Sinha, the global executive director of the human rights organization Equality Now. “We are building stronger laws that center a woman’s lack of consent as a deciding factor.”

Another barrier to justice is that around the world, women often aren’t valued enough or thought to have the same rights as men, Sinha says. “In the film, we see that the village headman is concerned about the boys’ future, but what about the girl who went through the trauma? We see a father who struggles and perseveres to have his daughter’s voice heard, to say that she’s an equal and deserves justice and not to be married off to the person who raped her. He stands up for her in the face of immense intimidation — a male allyship that is very powerful,” Sinha says.

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She hopes the film will break some of the legal and cultural barriers that prevent women from being perceived as equal and from receiving justice.

The last scene of the documentary offers a reminder of the power of those barriers by explaining the title of the film. An elated Ranjit receives news of the verdict — his daughter’s aggressors have been jailed.

He is relieved and joyful. He says that he remembers how people once told him, “You can’t kill a tiger by yourself.”

Ranjit says, “I said I would kill the tiger, and I did.”

Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, Southern India. She reports on global health, science and development and has been published in TheNew York Times, The British Medical Journal, the BBC, The Guardian and other outlets. You can find her on X @kamal_t

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After weeks of speculation, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wed in New York

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After weeks of speculation, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wed in New York

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs, pictured at a basketball game in May, announced their engagement in August 2025.

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NEW YORK — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are officially married.

After three years of dating, The pop icon and Super Bowl-winning football player, both 36, tied the knot in New York, according to a statement from Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine.

There were neither bridesmaids nor groomsmen. “Instead, her brother Austin Swift served as Taylor’s Man of Honor and Jason Kelce was Travis’ Best Man. The ceremony joined both families together,” Swift’s publicist said in the statement released Friday evening.

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The ceremony was officiated by comedian and a friend of the couple, Adam Sandler, the statement added.

The singer’s rep said that the couple was dressed in Christian Dior Haute Couture.

“The bride and groom’s wedding ceremony looks have been created by Christian Dior Haute Couture. They are designed by Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of Dior Women’s, Men’s and Haute Couture Collections, in close collaboration with the Bride and Groom,” the statement said. “This is the designer’s first couture wedding dress for a world-renowned celebrity. Their shoes were custom made by Christian Louboutin and the bride wore Cartier jewelry.”

Security around the event was intense, so it remains unclear if the wedding was charming, if a little gauche. But the night before the ceremony the 20,000-person stadium was bathed in a lavender haze.

Details gleaned from a city permit obtained by The Associated Press, showed details of a “special event at MSG” scheduled to begin Friday evening and running overnight Saturday.

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As speculation built, fans began gathering in front of the stadium ahead of the expected wedding, despite the couple’s efforts to keep details of the celebration under wraps.

Superfans and sleuths appeared to have their hunches confirmed on Friday, as dozens of black cars dropped off elegantly dressed guests outside of Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Ken Marino

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How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Ken Marino

Ken Marino loves living in L.A.

Living here has certainly been good for his acting career. Though he broke into the business as a member of NYC-turned-MTV sketch comedy group the State in 1994, he moved to L.A. in the fall of 1997 when he landed a role in the second season of “Men Behaving Badly,” an NBC sitcom. Marino shot just 13 episodes before the show was canceled. Still, he stayed in L.A., landing roles in much-loved shows like “Veronica Mars,” “Party Down,” “The Residence” and “Running Point.” He’s also co-written a few things, including “Role Models” and “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” out July 10, which was filmed in and around Los Angeles.

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In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

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“Working around L.A. and running around to jobs is how I got to understand L.A.,” Marino says. “It’s just a very comfortable city to live in. I just think it’s fun to be able to bounce around and do anything you feel like doing.”

Here’s how Marino would spend his perfect, carefree Sunday in Los Angeles.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

6 a.m.: Dog walking, coffee and flowers

We have two dogs. They need to go outside in the morning and eat, and they are very vocal about it. For a while, every morning at 5:58 my one dog, Dot, would start whining and moving around until I’d go “yeah, OK, let’s feed you.”

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In our family, I’m the one who feeds the dogs and takes them out, because I’m a morning person. I enjoy it when it’s not fully light out, maybe making myself a coffee or taking a walk to this place called Project Bloom Coffee. It’s a little mom and pop kind of place and they have terrific coffee and breakfast sandwiches. They’re also a florist. Sometimes they even use this cool paper holder with a handle where, on one side you put the coffee and then on the other side you put your beautiful flower display. So then you get to walk home with your coffee and your flowers together and it’s something I’ve never seen anywhere else.

7:30 a.m.: Online chess

After I go get my coffee and walk the dogs, I’ll still be the only person up so I’ll get on my computer and get a couple of games of chess in. I play people from around the world online on Chess.com, and I usually either get frustrated or feel like I’m the best chess player in the world. Anyway, I’m getting my rating up on the app and I’m very excited about it. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of chess tutorials on TikTok and YouTube that teach me how to play better.

9 a.m.: More coffee and “911”

If I go to Project Bloom, I’ll bring my wife a coffee and some flowers but if not, we have a little espresso and cappuccino maker so I’ll use that to make her a cappuccino, which I’ll bring to her in bed. She’s always very happy about that and then I’ll go try to wake my [16-year-old] daughter up, which usually takes about two or three tries until I take her phone, set the timer for five minutes, and then put it on the other side of her room so she has to get out of her bed to turn it off when it sounds.

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She and I have been religiously watching “911” recently. We started with Season 1 and now we’re about six or seven seasons in so I’ll make her breakfast — maybe a Nutella crepe with some little cherry tomatoes on the side, which is weird but she likes it or maybe some oatmeal — and then we’ll watch “911” and talk about our favorite characters, like Buck, Chimney and Bobby.

Noon: Lunch on the Westside

We have a little apartment in Marina Del Rey that’s right by the beach so sometimes I’ll go out there with the dogs, just to sit for a while and enjoy. I usually walk between the Venice pier and Washington Street, but sometimes I’ll go further north and walk along Venice Beach if I want to hang out with some freaky deakies.

When I’m over on that side of town, there’s a couple of places that I might go for food, like this Italian restaurant called Ospi that’s in Venice. They’re incredible. They make their own homemade pasta and it’s delicious. There’s also this chain called Guisados, and I love their tacos so sometimes I’ll do that too. Venice Ramen is good too, and they do these things called jumbo gyoza that are absolutely delicious. They’re like 2.5 times bigger than a normal gyoza, like palm-sized, and I really like them.

2 p.m.: Play practice and a pint

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My daughter is in two plays right now at this place called the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, so it’s my responsibility to take her over there and drop her off for practice. When I do that, if it’s a Sunday, I might want to grab a Guinness somewhere and watch basketball. There’s a bar called Weary Livers down the street that has a lot of board games and it feels like you’re in somebody’s basement, which is good. It’s also right next to the Brixton, which is another nice bar that I’ll go to from time to time if I’m waiting for my daughter to finish rehearsal because it’s a lot of driving otherwise.

4 p.m.: Garage band practice

Typically on Sunday, we’ll also have a rehearsal for the Middle Aged Dad Jam Band. [Editor’s note: Marino co-founded the group with David Wain, whom he’s known since “The State” and who co-wrote “Wet Hot American Summer.”) We’ll play for a couple of hours in David’s garage, trying out new songs and working out what we’re going to do at our next live show.

6 p.m.: Guerilla promotion

Right now, David [Wain] and I are trying to figure out different promotional things we can do for our movie, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” so maybe we’d do some more of that. It’s a really funny movie and we sold it at Sundance.

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Anyway, two Sundays ago we walked around with our friend Frank Barrera, who is also one of the camera operators on “Gail Daughtry.” We went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and we shot promos for the movie where we were talking to different people and pretending that the Gail Daughtry cinematic universe is vast and has been around for decades, like we were asking people what their favorite Gail Daughtry movie is. It confused a lot of them, but every once in a while somebody would say something so we’re using those for promo spots.

I also spent some time just running up and down the street being very overly enthusiastic and screaming “the new Gail Daughtry movie is coming out!” and then we shot people’s reactions, which were typically “confusion” and “not caring.” Like, “Stop yelling at me, weirdo.”

7:30 p.m.: Thai takeout

On weekends, my wife and I like to order from a specific Thai place that’s won many awards. It’s called Luv 2 Eat Thai Bistro and it’s absolutely fantastic. The crab curry is so delicious and they do these street food sausages that we crave. They come with ginger and peanuts and garlic, plus a big slab of raw cabbage and some hot peppers and we’ll eat them like popcorn, just throwing them in our mouths while we catch up on “Survivor.” The flavor is just insane, and we think about how good they are all the time.

9:30 p.m.: Checkmate

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After we watch “Survivor,” usually what happens next is that we’ll end up going, “Should we watch a movie?” Then we’ll look around for a movie for a while and then my daughter will be like, “Hey, Mom! Come in here and watch this YouTube show with me” so my wife will get pulled away, and I’ll immediately pick up my computer and start playing chess again. I like to bookend my day with a quiet chess game in the morning and another quiet game at night. It’s a nice way to wind down.

I’ll typically play a minimum of about three games before my eyes start to close because they’re trying to fall asleep. That’s when I’ll quit because I’ll be making stupid moves and it affects my rating, like “Oh, I just lost that game because I fell asleep while my computer was on,” so that’s how I know when I’m done.

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Nearly half of Americans surveyed don’t know what America 250 commemorates

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Nearly half of Americans surveyed don’t know what America 250 commemorates

People visit the Liberty Bell on the eve of Independence Day in Philadelphia on July 3, 2025. The crack in this symbol of U.S. freedom echoes the paradox between national pride and civic ignorance revealed in a new national poll.

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Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images

A new national poll reveals a striking paradox in public sentiment ahead of America’s 250th anniversary: a disconnect between Americans’ strong patriotic pride and their lack of civic knowledge.

According to a survey from the libertarian Cato Institute think tank of more than 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in late June, 86% of respondents said they are grateful to be American and 70% believe the nation’s founding principles remain relevant.

However, nearly half of Americans (46%) don’t know that America’s 250th anniversary commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

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This civic ignorance extends to basic governance: Nearly 60% do not know the main purpose of the U.S. Constitution is to limit government power, and do not know why the colonies declared independence from Great Britain.

Furthermore, the report highlights deep anxieties about the future of American liberty.

The majority of those surveyed believe the country has strayed from its founding principles, and more than half fear the U.S. could cease to be a free country within the next 50 years, citing corruption and the abuse of power as primary threats. The majority of both Republicans and Democrats share these fears.

The concerns are especially pronounced among Gen Z respondents, who exhibited both the lowest levels of civic knowledge and the least favorable views of the nation’s founders. The majority of Gen Z failed to cite the adoption of the Declaration of Independence as the source of the 250th anniversary.

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“The lack of civic knowledge is a great disaster,” said Coe Professor of History and American Studies and Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Stanford University Jack Rakove. “Any democratic system of government to succeed requires having an informed electorate.”

The Pulitzer Prize-winning authority on the drafting of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence blamed the problem on the fragmented media landscape and schools prioritizing STEM subjects over civics and history.

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