Sikh religious and cultural service, Sangat TV has been rapped by Ofcom for broadcasting a video, which was deemed offensive.

A viewer complained to Ofcom about the song called ‘Jinde Sukha Anthem’ by Tigerstyle, which aired in August last year. The complainant considered that the video glorified the actions of two Sikh nationalists Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha (“Jinda” and “Sukha” respectively). These two men, who were members of the Khalistan Commando Force, were hanged in 1992 for the assassination of General Arun Shridhar Vadiya, the Chief of the Indian Army responsible for Operation Bluestar in 1984. They were also found responsible for the murder of two Indian politicians.

Sangat TV said it had “removed” the music video from its schedule “pending further investigation into the matter”. It said that the music video was “a promotional extract” of the Punjabi language cinema film ‘The Mastermind – Jinda Sukha’, which was due to be released in UK cinemas in September 2015. It added that ‘The Mastermind – Jinda Sukha’ was of “significant historic value to the Punjabi community worldwide”. In addition, it said that it had received no remuneration for broadcasting the music video and that it makes no “financial gain from promotional videos and/or advertisements that are deemed to be in the interest of the community”.

Before broadcasting the music video the Licensee said that is editorial team had “confirmed with the local agents of the movie” that the video included extracts from the film and as such “had been approved by the BBFC for public screening”. The Licensee stated its understanding was that “any movie or an extract of a movie cleared by the BBFC for public screening and where the audio version of it was also being broadcast over the UK radio stations, would be suitable for public broadcast on Sangat TV as well.” It added that it was “confused as to how a movie cleared by BBFC for public screening could fall foul of Ofcom guidelines and would appreciate Ofcom educating us on this matter, to ensure that no incidents such as this recurs in the future.”

Ofcom concluded that it found Sangat TV in Breach 2.3 of the Broadcasting Code based on the following two reasons:

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