Stand by your girls Put daughters first, Malala's father urges

The day Ranjit's daughter was born, he distributed sweets to the entire village - not just because he was thrilled to be a father for the first time, but because he was father to a girl.

- Isabel Choat

The day Ranjit's daughter was born, he distributed sweets to the entire village - not just because he was thrilled to be a father for the first time, but because he was father to a girl. "God heard my heart and granted my wish," he says. His devotion to baby Kiran (not her real name) was immediate and unshakable.

Millions of fathers around the world will relate to the joy he felt, but in deeply patriarchal rural India publicly celebrating the arrival of a girl is an unusual, even defiant, act.

Ranjit's love for and faith in Kiran is captured in the film To Kill a Tiger, which follows the poor rice farmer as he pursues justice for his daughter after she was gang-raped aged 13.

Kiran is determined to see her attackers in court and Ranjit is determined to support her.

He refuses to give up even in the face of threats and ostracism from his community. He credits Kiran and his wife, Jaganti, for giving him the strength to keep going.

Ranjit and Kiran were joined by another supporter of an extraordinary daughter: Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala's father, at a New York screening of the film in March to launch #StandWithHer, a global gender justice campaign to support survivors of sexual violence.