Encounter of 'Satluj'

Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist in Indian Punjab, was abducted and murdered by the Punjab Police in 1995. He was targeted for his work exposing the illegal killings and secret cremations of thousands of people during the 1980s and 1990s.

Khalra was a bank director from Amritsar who turned to human rights activism after being deeply troubled by the many disappearances in the state following Operation Blue Star and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He began documenting the cases of people who had "disappeared" after being detained by the police. His research led him to municipal cremation records, where he uncovered a pattern of large-scale, illegal cremations of bodies labeled as "unidentified" or "unclaimed".

On January 16, 1995, Khalra made his findings public, alleging that the Punjab Police had secretly cremated thousands of victims to cover up extrajudicial killings and fake encounters. He claimed that around 25,000 innocent youths were killed in this manner. A subsequent CBI investigation confirmed over 2,000 unlawful cremations in the Tarn Taran district alone.

On the morning of September 6, 1995, Khalra was washing his car outside his home in Amritsar when he was forcibly taken by personnel of the Punjab Police. Witnesses saw him being bundled into a sky-blue Maruti van. According to the courts, he was taken to the Jhabal police station, where he was tortured and shot dead. His body was then disposed of near the Harike bridge on the Sutlej River and was never recovered.

Khalra's wife, Paramjit Kaur, filed a habeas corpus petition with the Supreme Court of India, which ordered the CBI to investigate his disappearance and the wider claims of illegal cremations. In 2005, a trial court convicted six low ranking police officials for Khalra's abduction and murder. In 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court sentenced four of them to life imprisonment. Khalra's work led to a massive legal reckoning. While few lower-ranking officers were convicted, higher-ranking officers accused of involvement either died during the proceedings or were not successfully prosecuted.

That's the story of the movie Satluj, which has been banned in India.

While the production team and its main character Diljit Dosanjh had presented the movie few years back to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India, it was never cleared for release with one objection after the other. The censor board recommended 127 to 162 cuts with flimsy objections to the title, similarities to post Operation Blue Star environment and naming of heinous character of KPS Gill who, as Director General of Police of Punjab, crushed the Sikh youth and orchestrated the infamous Encounter Campaign which Mr Khalra had exposed.

The CBFC reportedly demanded the removal of the real-life name of Jaswant Singh Khalra, the human rights activist the film is based on. The film had its title changed multiple times during the process. It was originally submitted as Ghallughara, before being changed to Punjab '95 for certification, and finally released as Satluj. The film was barred due to "potential adverse consequences for national security".

The makers of the film refused to implement these changes, which prevented it from receiving a theatrical certificate. According to the government, the filmmakers eventually bypassed the CBFC process by releasing the uncut version directly on an OTT platform with a new title. The film was later taken down from the platform due to the same security concerns that the Censor Board had flagged.

The role of KPS Gill remains highly controversial, largely defined by the militant crisis in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s. His tenure as IGP is viewed through two opposing lenses: one credits him with restoring order, while the other condemns his methods, particularly regarding "encounter killings". Human rights organisations and critics accuse him of presiding over a system of mass extra-judicial executions. It is alleged that police killed suspected militants in staged shootouts rather than arresting them, leading to a significant number of deaths and a climate of state-sanctioned violence.

Gill was linked to the case of Khalra, who exposed illegal cremations. Khalra's investigation implicated senior police officers under Gill's command in covering up killings, though Gill was not personally convicted of Khalra's murder. Despite numerous allegations, Gill was never convicted of these encounters.

Political parties in Punjab, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, have criticised the decision to ban the movie. Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal called it "an assault on our collective memory, truth, and freedom of expression". The case has reignited conversations about artistic freedom, censorship, and the balance between creative expression and national security.

The movie has triggered a widespread debate in India and the godi media is trying to portray it as a 'sajish' against Modi government and an effort to resurrect the idea of Khalistan. Sushant Sareen, a so-called Pakistan expert, blasted the movie and those who are keenly following it insisting that it was Gen Z that was celebrating the movie whereas "this generation doesn't read anything and just follows Instagram and WhatsApp". These remarks appear to be funny because the biggest 'WhatsApp University' in India is run by RSS. Sushant Sareen also forgot that RSS-sponsored movies like Kashmir Files, Kerala Story and Dhurandhar have been more divisive and poisonous, especially for their targeting of Muslim community in India. Some Hindutva-driven lawyers are calling for FIR against Diljit Dosanjh. This is the reality of free speech in the so-called largest democracy of the world.

Recent US federal indictments have shed light on the persecution of the Sikh diaspora and Indian state-sponsored suppression. In an international crackdown, the FBI exposed how transnational syndicates, including the Bishnoi gang, were deployed as 'guns for hire' to target Sikh activists in North America. Simultaneously, the abrupt censorship and removal of the film Satluj in India - which chronicles historic extrajudicial killings - strikingly connects the past history of state suppression with today's headlines.

Much like Jaswant Singh Khalra and the estimated 25,000 Sikhs who fell victim to KPS Gill's extrajudicial 'encounter' strategy, the film Satluj has faced its own political 'encounter' at the hands of the Indian state.