Amitabh Parashar’s 2017 documentary The Eyes of Darkness investigates later attacks in Bihar that he saw as echoing the Bhagalpur blindings. The film presents a possible “copycat effect” as an interpretation of those cases—not as a proven causal finding. The distinction matters: the Supreme Court record documents prisoners’ accounts and severe injuries, while reporting about the later incidents does not establish that Bhagalpur caused them or that such attacks became more common.
What is The Eyes of Darkness about?
Made by filmmaker Amitabh Parashar and released in 2017, The Eyes of Darkness grew out of his inquiry into attacks reported in Bihar and his recollection of the earlier Bhagalpur case. Scroll’s January 15, 2017 profile describes the documentary as examining later violence and what Parashar called a “demonstration effect.” A March 2017 profile in Civil Society focuses in particular on Munna Thakur’s struggle for justice, while also considering the use of violence as punishment in village settings.
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The film’s reported thesis is that the Bhagalpur episode may have helped make similar violence seem possible or repeatable. Parashar told Scroll: “Bhagalpur showed that it was easy to get away with a crime of this nature.” That is the filmmaker’s interpretation, not a finding established by the court record or by a study measuring whether one case caused later attacks.
What happened in the Bhagalpur blindings?
In its March 23, 1982 judgment in Anil Yadav & Ors vs State Of Bihar & Anr, the Supreme Court of India described undertrial prisoners at Bhagalpur as having their eyes pierced with needles and acid poured into them. Medical reports recorded serious eye injuries, including loss of sight. Chief Justice Y. V. Chandrachud described the doctor’s report as one that “will shock the conscience of mankind.”
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The judgment recounted statements taken by court officers from 17 blinded prisoners: 15 said police had blinded them, while two said members of the public had done so. Those accounts are significant, but the Court also made clear that identifying whether the acts were committed by police or members of the public was not directly before it in that proceeding. The judgment therefore documents the allegations and injuries without serving as a final determination of perpetrator identity in that case.
Did the Bhagalpur blindings inspire later attacks?
Scroll’s 2017 profile reports that Parashar was prompted to make the film by later attacks in Bihar. It describes cases involving a labourer demanding wages, people accused of theft, and Munna Thakur, who was attacked after his wife contested a local election. Civil Society also discusses Thakur’s case and reports incidents in multiple locations. These are reported cases, not a systematic survey of all attacks of this kind.
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Parashar and the profiles connect the later violence to the example of Bhagalpur. Civil Society quotes him identifying caste, political rivalry, personal enmity and vigilantism as factors behind continuing violence. Those explanations should be understood as attributed analysis. The sources do not quantify a copycat effect, establish a trend in the incidence of attacks, or prove that the Bhagalpur case caused the later incidents. Nor should the distinction between the cases be blurred: the Bhagalpur judgment concerned allegations against police and members of the public, while the documentary’s later cases are reported as attacks involving private actors or villagers.
What happened to those held responsible?
Amnesty International’s 1992 retrospective account says a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry in January 1982 absolved the state government of complicity or negligence and treated the incidents as isolated crimes without conspiracy. Amnesty reports that the CBI recommended prosecution in ten cases and departmental action in nine. It also reports that nine police officers were convicted in connection with the blinding of five prisoners, that no senior officer was prosecuted, and that the maximum sentence for an officer convicted of deliberate blinding was three years.
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These are outcomes as described by Amnesty in 1992, not a current case-status update. They also represent a different kind of record from the Supreme Court judgment: the judgment recounted prisoner statements and set a boundary on what its proceeding decided, while Amnesty later summarized investigation and prosecution outcomes.
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The 2017 profiles establish the film’s subject and describe Parashar’s views, but they do not establish its current streaming location or whether a physical edition is available. Check a distributor or rights-holder listing before relying on an old catalog entry; availability may vary by country and change over time.
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