Dec
17
Film on 1984 massacre to be released
December 17, 2004 | Comments Off on Film on 1984 massacre to be released
India’s Central Board of Film Certification has approved “Amu” to be released in January after its director, Shonali Bose, agreed to some cuts. “Amu” depicts the 1984 massacre of Sikhs and featured dialogue critical of the Indian government’s response, which the censor board demanded be cut.
“I was told that dialogue which speaks of violence against minority communities was not allowed in the film,” Bose said.
It did cut some scenes of a widow blaming the government for turning a blind eye during the anti-Sikh riots and also to some extent encouraging it.
The board also cut some anti-minority remarks and criticisms of India’s judicial system, Bose said.
“The film had to go through some cuts despite my strong protests and arguments that the dialogue depicted what actually was said at that time,” she said.
“I had asked for a parental guidance certification but the board said that since this is not well-known history, there is no reason for young people to be told about it,” Bose said.
The Indian government continues to deny knowledge, justice, and reparation to survivors of the massacre, and refuses to acknowledge the violations they suffered. One of Ensaaf’s principles is the right to knowledge. People have the right to know the truth about gross human rights violations and the people and institutions involved in the perpetration of these abuses. An effective right to knowledge also includes the State’s duty to acknowledge and remember the violations suffered by individual victims and victim communities.
Ensaaf’s report Twenty Years of Impunity: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India analyzes thousands of pages of previously unavailable and secret affidavits, government records and arguments submitted to the 1985 Misra Commission, established to examine the Sikh Massacres in Delhi, Kanpur, and Bokaro. After a thorough discussion of administrative and judicial impunity, the report applies the international law of genocide and crimes against humanity to the pogroms, relating the massacres with international understandings of gross violations of human rights. The report proposes steps to redress the survivors’ rights to knowledge, justice and reparation.
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