India blocks access to documentary about death of Sikh activist in Canada

This is second time in an year that India has sought to block a documentary critical of Indian government

By Agencies
March 15, 2024
A memorial for Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on September 22, 2023. — EPA
A memorial for Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on September 22, 2023. — EPA

OTTAWA: India has ordered prominent video sharing platforms to block access to a new Canadian documentary probing the assassination of a prominent Sikh activist in Vancouver, in a move that highlights India’s mounting frustration with the allegations its government was behind the high-profile killing.

The request marks the second time in just over a year that India has sought to block a documentary critical of the Indian government or its leader, Narendra Modi. In 2023, India used emergency laws to block the distribution of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question.

Last week, the CBC’s Fifth Estate, the national broadcaster’s investigative unit, aired Contract to Kill, a 43-minute documentary about the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, who held Canadian citizenship, was shot and killed in a parking lot in suburban Vancouver.

The murder, and subsequent investigation by Canada’s national security apparatus, prompted the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, in September to tell the country’s parliament there were “credible allegations” that “agents of the Indian government” were behind the killing.