
India's Daughter tells the story of Jyoti Singh, 23, whose rape and violent death in India's capital in 2012 caused a public outcry.
Streep said at the New York premiere she was on the "campaign" for it to be nominated for best documentary.
"When I first saw the film I couldn't speak afterwards," Streep said.
The nominations for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced on 14 January.
The hour-long film is made by the BBC and directed by British-based actress and film-maker Leslee Udwin.
She also produced the film East is East but India's Daughter marks her debut as a movie director.
Udwin said she had found hope in the protests following Singh's rape but was dismayed at the relatively weak outcry after a four-year-old girl was raped and beaten with stones in Delhi earlier this month.
"Why are people not out on the streets now?" said Udwin.
There were 33,764 victims of rape in India in 2013, according to the country's National Crime Records Bureau.
Medical student Jyoti Singh was returning home from seeing Life of Pi at the cinema with a male friend in December 2012, when she was raped and murdered by a gang of men. ?The Verge