Punjabi film was suddenly removed Satluj Within 48 hours of its release on an OTT platform, there has been renewed interest in the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra and his fight for justice against extrajudicial cremation in Punjab in the 1990s.
even as zee5 Warning against piracy, singer Diljit Dosanjh, who plays Khalra in the film, encouraged people to watch it Satluj They can do it wherever and however they want. “One day the truth always comes out,” Dosanjh said. film, which has been Referred to Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) by Government Formed under the IT Rules 2021 for a detailed investigation, the film disturbs the audience with its depiction of state violence on the youth of Punjab during the 1990s. History reminds us that Jaswant Singh Khalra, who fought for a generation traumatized by police brutality, remains a revered figure in Punjab even today.
Students of Panjab University watch a special screening of the film ‘Sutlej’ at Gurdwara Sri Muktsar Sahib PU after being denied permission to organize the screening in Chandigarh, Punjab on Wednesday, July 8, 2026. Photo courtesy: PTI
When firewood procurement exposed extrajudicial killings
The Coordination Committee on Disappeared in Punjab (CCDP) was formed in 1997 to investigate human rights violations committed during police operations against Khalistani separatist elements in Punjab. his report, Turned into ashes: insurgency and human rights in PunjabExplains how Jaswant Singh Khalra, general secretary of the human rights wing of the Akali Dal, exposed alleged cases of “secret” cremation of unidentified bodies and extrajudicial killings in Punjab.
Khalra, a law graduate, was working in a bank when he started investigating the disappearance of his colleagues. After this he found a note from Amritsar Municipal Corporation which contained the names of the people cremated by the police. They released the findings in the form of a press note and supported the claims with evidence of a firewood purchase register from a crematorium in Amritsar district. He also submitted these records in the writ petition while approaching the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding investigation, but the court rejected his petition saying that the petitioner did not have any evidence. locus standi In case.
Despite constant threats and obstruction, Khalra continued to seek justice for the grieving families. In June 1995, he gave a speech in front of Canadian parliamentarians on police brutality. Three months later, on September 6, 1995, he was abducted from his Amritsar residence. Khalra’s family moved the Supreme Court, which directed the CBI to investigate his abduction and also take into account the evidence collected by Khalra over allegations of cremation of unidentified bodies and extrajudicial killings.
The CBI concluded that Khalra was taken to a police station in Tarn Taran by Punjab Police officers and later murdered in custody. In its report, apart from identifying nine police officers involved in the abduction and murder of Khalra, it revealed details on 2,097 illegal cremations in Amritsar district. The Supreme Court directed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to “investigate the matter in accordance with law and determine all the issues raised before the Commission”.
The Supreme Court commented in its order, “If it is found that the facts stated in the press note (issued by Jaswant Singh Khalra) are true – even partially – then it would be a grotesque tale of human rights violations. It is appalling to imagine that bodies of a large number of people, reportedly thousands, could be cremated unceremoniously by the police with an “unknown” label.
NHRC report on human rights violations in Punjab
In its annual reports from 1995 to 2000, the National Human Rights Commission published detailed findings from its investigations into extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
The NHRC formally recorded kidnappings under the chapter “Human Rights in Areas of Terrorism and Extremism” in its annual report for the year 1995–96. The Commission expressed its deep concern over both insurgent violence and state excesses, saying, “The Commission is deeply saddened when it receives reports of terrorist excesses and excessive use of force by state apparatuses, unaccounted disappearances or deaths under suspicious circumstances, such as allegations of “false encounters”.
A news article published in The Hindu
The NHRC’s annual report for the year 1998–99 states, however, that the petitioners have raised questions about all cases of “extrajudicial elimination, or involuntary disappearances, fake encounters, abductions and killings, etc.” As for the investigation across Punjab, the Central and Punjab governments argued that the investigation should be limited to 2,097 cremations in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Majitha districts.
For the first time in 1999, the Punjab government published a list of all cremations conducted by the police of “unclaimed/unidentified bodies” in three districts between June and December in 1994. Subsequently, 88 claims were received from families to identify their family members and claim compensation.
This process expanded significantly in 2004. That year, the NHRC published a public notice The Tribune This includes an updated registry compiled by the CBI, urging as many relatives as possible to come forward, identify the deceased and file claims.
The CBI had submitted details of 582 bodies identified, 278 partially identified and 1,237 completely unidentified.
A list published by the CBI of dead persons in 2004 Photo credit: Coordination Committee on Disappearances in Punjab (CCDP)
The process of filing claims was not easy for the affected families. In August, 2024 The Hindu It was reported that the process of raising the claim required by the NHRC was difficult as many witnesses who could have provided details had already died and in other cases either relatives did not have proper documentation or details on the events became inconsistent.
Chandigarh-based lawyer Harshinder Singh said that due to the backwardness of these people during the era of terrorism, the security forces found it easy to commit atrocities on them. He said it was a difficult task for the families of the victims to present their claims as the memories became fresh with greater fears about the recurrence of the dark days when the security forces had tortured them.
Supreme Court on kidnapping and subsequent murder of Jaswant Singh Khalra
On 18 November 2005, an additional sessions court convicted six police officers in the Khalra kidnapping and murder case. The court sentenced Deputy Superintendent of Police Jaspal Singh and ASI Amarjeet Singh to life imprisonment with fine and Prithipal Singh, Satnam Singh, Surinderpal Singh, Jasbir Singh and Amarjeet Singh to seven years in jail. Later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Amarjeet Singh and sentenced the other four policemen to life imprisonment, which was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in 2011.
A news article published in The Hindu in August 2011. | Photo courtesy: The Hindu Archive
Dismissing the appeals filed by the convicted policemen, a division bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and BS Chauhan of the Supreme Court said: “When the matter comes to the court, it has to strike a balance between the protection of the fundamental rights of an individual and the duties of the police. It cannot be said that the liberty of an individual should be subordinated to the protection of the State. The State must protect the victims of torture, ill-treatment as well as the human rights defenders fighting for the interest of the victims, this The issue must be considered seriously because victims of torture suffer huge consequences psychologically.”
forgot justice
Although the issue was almost forgotten by the media and judiciary, in a 2017 report titled ‘Identifying the Unidentified’, the Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project (PDAP) claimed to have collected details of “systematic killings by the Punjab Police and security services” from the 1980s to the mid-1990s.
“Our preliminary findings showed that more than 95% of these reported encounter killings were staged… meaning these were extrajudicial executions,” the PDAP reported. The Hindu.
The report claimed that 5,648 mass cremations of unclaimed and unidentified persons were carried out in Punjab during this period. It gave details of another 2,609 cases where the identities of the victims are known.
Senior lawyer and rights activist Colin Gonsalves said not a single policeman went to jail or received a life sentence for “brutal killing of people in custody”. “State terror is the deadliest terror. There is no media coverage, no court cases, no documentation.”
prayer for the victims
Despite its censorship, Satluj It has successfully forced the conversation on appropriate justice back into the mainstream against state violence in Punjab. Despite restrictions, videos of public screening of the film are emerging in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday said that his party will screen the film ‘Sutlej’ in every village and corner of Punjab.
Akal Takht said it would hold ‘Ardaas’ (prayers) on the banks of Sutlej river at Harike Pattan on July 14 for the eternal peace of the innocent Sikh youth whose stories were revived by the film. Akal Takht’s Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj said that, no collective Ardaas The first was organized “for the innocent youth, women, elderly and children who have been victims of government and police excesses in Punjab”.
