Chandigharh, Punjab (April 05, 2013): According to some recent reports the after the ban on Sadda Haq Punjabi movie, the screening of the movie is halted by the police in the Chandigarh and Ambala by the police. The Punjab Government on the pressure from bureaucracy and the Punjab police banned the movie in Punjab on late evening of April 04.
As the Chandigarh is administered as Union Territory by the Central Government it was expected that the movie shall be screened in Chandigarh. The cinema houses had confirmed the screening this morning but at around 10 am the cinema house, under pressure form the police, declared that the movie shall not be screened.
According to recent reports from Ambala and Karnal (Haryana), the screening of Sadda Haq was also halted there by the police and the cinema house refused to start the screening of the movie under police pressure. Similarly the movie was not screened at Karnal, Haryana.
The viewers, who was egregiously waiting for the movie were disappointed by these moves.
As per information the movie is based on real event of Punjab during 1980s-90s. It portrays the widespread police torture and other inhuman practices that were part of the policing practice of that period. Many police officers including Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini are facing charges for heinous crimes, such as torture, murder/extra-judicial killings. Recently an SSP rank officer Preet Pal Singh Virk, besides some other Punjab police cops, was convicted by a CBI court for abduction, illegal confinement and custodial torture and was sentenced to undergo ten years of imprisonment. It is believed that the Punjab Government’s move to ban the moive is result of pressure exerted by the high-ups in Punjab police.
It is notable that the movie was screened at Punjab Bhawan by the film producers on April 04, 2013 evening, to get the approval from a team of IAS and IPS officers, comprising principal secretary to CM S K Sandhu, principal secretary (home) D S Bains, additional director general of police Hardeep Dhillon and chief secretary Rakesh Singh. It is learnt that on the ‘recommendations’ from bureaucracy and the top-cops the ban was imposed on the movie by the Punjab government.