The Film Satluj: A Cinematic Reckoning

Satluj Film Exposes Punjab Killings: Constitutional Safeguards Under Scrutiny

The new Hindi‑English drama Satluj – directed by Honey Trehan and originally titled Panjab 95 – dramatises the 1990s‑era extrajudicial killings in Punjab, centring on activist Jaswant Singh Khalra. A pivotal scene shows a police officer demanding two post‑mortem reports within twenty minutes, then shooting a barely‑alive woman to “confirm” her death, underscoring the law‑lessness that the film seeks to expose.

The narrative follows bank manager‑turned‑activist Jaswant Singh Khalra (portrayed by Diljit Dosanjh) as he documents disappearances and confronts a police establishment that “writes history by first erasing its witnesses”.

• ▸Satluj premiered after a prolonged delay, with its title evoking the river that “carries the dead” in the film’s metaphor.
• ▸The film’s opening thirty‑minute sequence depicts a police officer entering a government hospital, demanding post‑mortem reports in twenty minutes, and subsequently shooting a woman who is still breathing.
• ▸Honey Trehan, a disciple of Vishal Bhardwaj, frames the story as “Punjab’s answer to Haider”, linking two regional traumas through a shared motif of water as witness.

These cinematic choices foreground the constitutional question: how does the Indian legal order protect citizens when state agents commit violence in the name of security?

Constitutional Guarantees Against State Violence

Article 21 of the Constitution enshrines the right to life and personal liberty, a provision that the Supreme Court has repeatedly interpreted to include protection from arbitrary state action.

• ▸The Court, in the Maneka Gandhi Judgment (1978), expanded Article 21 to require “procedure established by law” to be fair, just, and reasonable.
• ▸In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered the Punjab government to investigate the disappearance of roughly 1,500 persons alleged to have been killed during the insurgency, invoking Article 21 as the basis for state accountability.

Thus, the film’s depiction of a police officer’s unchecked power directly challenges the constitutional promise that no citizen shall be deprived of life without due process.

Legal Framework for Enforced Disappearances and Police Accountability

India’s statutory architecture offers several tools to curb impunity, though implementation remains uneven.

• ▸The Right to Information Act 2005 empowers citizens to request records from public authorities, including police logs, fostering transparency.
• ▸The Supreme Court’s landmark Vineet Narain v. Union of India (1998) mandated comprehensive police reforms, directing the establishment of State Vigilance Commissions and the filing of annual reports on police misconduct.
• ▸The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 created the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate violations, including extrajudicial killings.

These mechanisms collectively aim to transform the “silence of the river” into documented evidence, enabling judicial scrutiny of state excesses.

Satyagraha as Moral Engine of Activism

The concept of Satyagraha—rooted in the twin principles of ahimsa (non‑violence) and satya (truth)—provides the ethical backbone for Khalra’s non‑