Makers of Jaswant Singh Khalra biopic move Bombay High Court for censor clearance

The biopic based on the life of prominent human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra has been subjected to delays owing to the clearance for the censor certificate. The makers of the film moved the Bombay High Court and asked for legal intervention.

The yet-to-be-titled film, which is directed by Honey Trehan, and headlined by actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh, has hit the roadblock and the makers have sought legal help from the court.

Following Operation Blue Star, the assassination of Indira Gandhi, and the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots, the police were empowered to detain anyone as suspected terrorists. The police were accused of killing unarmed suspects in staged shootouts, and burning thousands of dead bodies to cover up the murders.

Jaswant Singh Khalra was the director of a bank in Amritsar during the militancy period in Punjab. He found the evidence of abduction, elimination and cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies by the police. They reportedly even killed 2,000 of their own officers who refused to collaborate in these extra judicial operations.

It was Khalra's investigation that sparked worldwide protests and led to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) concluding that the Punjab police had unlawfully cremated 2,097 people in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab alone. The Supreme Court of India and the National Human Rights Commission certified the validity of his data.

On September 6, 1995, Khalra disappeared and a case of murder, abduction and criminal conspiracy was registered on the complaint of his wife, Paramjit Kaur.

Taking strong note of the "heinous crime" committed by four police officers in "eliminating" human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, active in bringing to light extrajudicial killings in the districts of Tarn Taran and Amritsar, the Punjab and Haryana Court, on October 16, 2007, changed the sentences of the four accused, former head constable Prithipal Singh and former sub-inspectors Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh and Jasbir Singh from seven years to life imprisonment.

An industry source shared that the makers - RSVP Movies, Abhishek Chaubey and Honey Trehan, have been waiting for censor clearance for the last six months.

The source mentioned: "The Jaswant Singh Khalra case is back in court, this time for a censor certificate. It will come up for hearing on July 4 and Ameet Naik will be heading the Khalra biopic legal team."

The source added that RSVP applied for the censor certificate in December 2022, and it was sent ahead to the review committee. The team shared all the necessary paperwork that was requested and went about the process with complete diligence, but with no solution forthcoming from the CBFC, they finally moved the Bombay High Court."