New Delhi:
The overseas release of the film ‘Sutlej’, originally titled ‘Punjab 95’, has caught the attention of the journalist who originally broke the story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a rights activist whose family alleged extrajudicial kidnapping and murder in 1995.
The Honey Trehan film has been pulled from over-the-top (OTT) platforms in India. It is, however, available in the US and has prompted those connected with the real-life events to revisit the matter and clarify historical details.
Satinder Bains, who first broke the story for The Indian Express in May 1996, in a video posted on Facebook said the cinematic portrayal closely mirrored the events in Khalra’s final days before a police insider – whose own life ended in tragedy – brought it to light. Bains is based in Canada now.
Bains recalled his direct interactions with the police whistleblower whose testimony exposed the case. “Watching this film took me 30 years back in time, to when I did this story in the Indian Express on May 5, 1996,” Bains said in the video about his meeting with Kuldeep Singh, a special police officer in Amritsar.
Bains said Kuldeep Singh was promised a permanent constable position in exchange for his complicity and silence, but he went to the media when the police reneged. “He came to see me in Amritsar. He told me that he had a story, a secret, and he knew where Jaswant Singh Khalra was. He said the police had promised to make him a constable but backed out, and he wanted to tell the story,” the journalist said in the video.
Realising the explosive nature of the claim, Bains consulted his editor before recording evidence that would later form the basis of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) case and Kuldeep Singh’s Supreme Court testimony.
Khalra’s work on exposing the secret cremations of unidentified bodies in Punjab is widely documented.
“In October 1995, when he was tortured… he was tortured heavily. Jaswant Singh Khalra was actually crying a lot and screaming, and he asked for water,” Bains recalled from the whistleblower’s testimony.
The execution was carried out by station house officer (SHO) Satnam Singh, which Bains pointed out differed a bit from the film’s depiction of senior police officer Ajit Singh Sandhu pulling the trigger.
“The SHO told Kuldeep Singh to go and get water. When he returned with water, the SHO shot him. He fired two bullets, one in the heart and one in the head,” Bains said.
Kuldeep Singh also paid a steep price. He went into hiding after running from a police raid on his home and eventually testified in the Supreme Court.
“Later, his dead body was found. It is still not known how he died; he was thrown away as an unidentified body. When he was later identified, it was confirmed that he was Kuldeep Singh. His end happened in this manner,” Bains said.
“I feel a sense of satisfaction that, as a journalist, I got an opportunity and did justice to that story. I hope more people will watch it, and the debate on human rights will start again,” the journalist said.
