File photo of Lieutenant General KS Brar
A Sikh TV channel in the UK has been penalised for allegedly inciting an attack in September on Lieutenant General (retd) KS Brar, who oversaw the controversial Operation Bluestar against Sikh militants holed up inside the Golden Temple in 1984.
Sangat TV, which broadcasts out of Birmingham, has been fined 30,000 pounds by media regulator Ofcom. In October, according to Press Trust of India, the channel aired a programme that allegedly urged Sikhs to attack members of the Indian army.
The show was broadcast after the former army commander was attacked with a knife by a group of people while walking with his wife in London in September last year. He sustained serious injuries while his wife escaped unharmed and was instrumental in raising an alarm to call the police.
Panelists on the show allegedly said the attack was deserved and congratulated those who assaulted the 78-year-old while he was on a private visit.
Last month, three men and a woman of Sikh origin were found guilty of "a highly pre-mediated assault." On the night of the attack, the woman in the group allegedly tailed Mr Brar and his wife, following them into a casino and then a restaurant. She also got onto a bus with the couple, the BBC reported.
The convicts will be sentenced in September this year.
The regulator said the controversial broadcast violates a rule which states: "Material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder must not be included in television or radio services".
On June 5, 1984, troops including Sikh soldiers entered the Golden Temple premises in Amritsar to flush out militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale demanding Khalistan, a separate state for Sikhs. Several soldiers were killed in firing by the terrorists. But General Brar's troops were successful and Bhindranwale was killed.
Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards a few months after Operation Bluestar.