Petitioner Sikka, a retired naval officer and the film’s producer, had approached the apex court claiming that the SGPC had recently banned the release of the movie, which is based on the life and teachings Guru Nanak, even after the CBFC cleared it on March 28. On April 10, the Supreme Court had criticised SGPC for imposing restrictions on the film ‘Nanak Shah Fakir’ and cleared the decks for its nationwide release on April 13. The SGPC, the apex religious body of Sikhs, had appealed members of the community to wear black turbans on Friday as a mark of protest. The Akal Takht on Thursday ex-communicated Sikka from the Sikh Panth. In Haryana, Sikhs protested against the movie at several places, including Sirsa, Karnal, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra. The protesters said the movie should be banned across the country. Members of the Youth Akali Dal also staged a protest by wearing black turbans. In Ludhiana, protesters blocked traffic on Link Road near Atam Park for 30 minutes. Protest against the movie was also staged at Ferozepur. After holding protest at Jyoti Chowk, members of Sikh Dal Mel Committee burnt an effigy of the film’s producer Harinder Sikka.
There were also reports of protests by Sikhs in Jalandhar. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee-run local education institutes remained closed on Friday to protest against the movie. The Takht had imposed a ban on the release of the movie after it contended that showing Sikh gurus in living form cannot be permitted. The protest is not for harassing anybody, they said. The protesters said the jathedar of Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of Sikhs, had already appealed to the community to boycott the film and stage peaceful protests.
The blockade was lifted following the intervention of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the local police. In Sirhind, protesters stopped a goods train for around 30 minutes, railway officials said. Sikh groups in Punjab and Haryana on Friday staged protests against the release of controversial movie “Nanak Shah Fakir”, which is based on the life and teachings of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak.
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