Chandigarh: The release and subsequent takedown of Diljit Dosanjh-starrer “Satluj” has again put the spotlight back on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.

Khalra had investigated the cremation of thousands of unidentified bodies in Punjab between 1984 and 1994.

In January 1995, he claimed that around 2,000 mass cremations had taken place during the 10-year period in Amritsar alone, citing records of firewood purchases at cremation grounds in the district.

Around eight months later, Khalra was abducted from his residence on September 6, 1995, when he was washing his car outside his home in Amritsar. He was never seen again.

Following his disappearance, his wife Paramjit Kaur Khalra began a long legal battle for justice.

Her legal counsel, Brijinder Singh Sodhi, said Khalra was picked up on September 6, 1995.

The Supreme Court later ordered a CBI probe into Khalra’s disappearance.

In its report submitted in 1996, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found nine Punjab Police officials responsible for the abduction of the human rights activist.

Sodhi said following the trial, a CBI court in Patiala in November 2005 sentenced four police officials to seven-year-imprisonment and two to life imprisonment in the Khalra abduction-murder case.

In October 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court extended the seven-year jail term of four policemen to life imprisonment.

The high court bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice A N Jindal sentenced Satnam Singh, Surinder Pal Singh, Jasbir Singh — all sub-inspectors — and head constable Prithipal Singh to life imprisonment.

The bench had then observed that in view of statements of witnesses, the court concluded that Khalra was picked up from his house at the instance of the erstwhile senior superintendent of police, Ajit Singh Sandhu.

The bench had observed, “The sentence of seven years is inadequate and hence extended to rigorous imprisonment for life.”

According to the proceedings, Khalra was tortured at Jhabal police station and shot dead there, and his body was disposed of by police personnel near the Harike Bridge on the Sutlej river.

The Supreme Court upheld the life imprisonment in November 2011.

Recalling the case, Sodhi said he had received life threats in 1998. He also claimed that several witnesses were coerced and falsely implicated.

Advocate Navkiran Singh, who was part of Khalra’s human rights team, said it appears that the film has been removed from the platform at the Centre’s directions.

“The government should have allowed the truth to come out. People should know what Punjab went through,” he said.

He asserted that the film depicts true events.

The Honey Trehan film features Dosanjh as human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was abducted in 1995, never to be seen again.

The film, originally titled “Punjab ’95”, was stuck with the censor board for more than three years. The director and actor refused to release it with the 127 cuts suggested by the Central Board of Film Certification.

The movie was released without any cuts on an OTT platform, but on Sunday evening the platform informed viewers that it’s no longer available in India.

In 2023, the movie was scheduled for world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) but was removed from the line-up without any official statement from organisers.

“Punjab ’95” was slated for worldwide release on February 7, 2025, without any cuts, except in India. But that release too fell through.