Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has expressed serious concern over the sudden removal of the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer biographical drama “Satluj" from streaming platform ZEE5 in India, a day after its release.
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The Speaker said ideas, perspectives and historical facts ought to be debated openly through constitutional and democratic means rather than suppressed, amid mounting political outrage in the state, with several leaders and Sikh organisations denouncing the takedown as an attack on freedom of expression.
“Satluj," originally titled “Ghallughara" and later “Punjab ’95," is directed by Honey Trehan and portrays the real-life story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a bank employee-turned-human rights activist played by Dosanjh.
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Set against the backdrop of militancy and counter-insurgency operations in Punjab in the early 1990s, the film depicts Khalra’s investigation into municipal records that alleged the extrajudicial killing and secret cremation of over 25,000 unidentified persons by Punjab Police.
Khalra was abducted from his home in September 1995, shortly after raising the issue internationally, including before the Canadian House of Commons, and was later tortured and killed in police custody. Several police personnel were convicted in the case in 2005, with the High Court subsequently upholding life sentences.
