Indira Gandhi assassination: Controversial film set for release

A controversial film on the October 1984
assassination of former prime minister Indira
Gandhi is set for release in India on Friday.
Mrs Gandhi's Congress party has written to the
prime minister saying the Punjabi film, Kaum De
Heere, should be banned as it glorifies the
assassins.
Intelligence agencies have warned of potential
violence if it is released.
Mrs Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards
for sending the military into the Golden Temple.
Sikhs say thousands were murdered when the
army entered Sikhism's holiest shrine to flush out
militants.
Mrs Gandhi's assassination triggered an outburst of
communal violence targeted at Sikhs and more than
3,000 Sikhs were killed in attacks across India.
Kaum De Heere (Diamonds of the Community) tells
the story of Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, Mrs
Gandhi's assassins.
Beant Singh was killed by police shortly after the
murder while Satwant Singh was later hanged.
The Congress party in Punjab, however, has
threatened to carry out protests if the film is
released.
"This movie presents murderers as heroes,"
Congress youth president Vikramjit Singh
Chaudhary has written in his letter the prime
minister.
The film's producer Ravinder Singh has denied the
charge.
"I followed the court case and the inquiry report
into the assassination and spent a lot of time with
Satwant and Beant Singh's families before making
the film,"
"Films have been made about political
assassinations all over the world, so why can't a
film be made on Mrs Gandhi's assassination?" he
asks.